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injurious insects. It was estimated that the insects eaten 

 by each toad would average nearly ten thousand in three 

 months. This vast number includes flieSj, grasshoppers, 

 crickets, spiders, hard-shelled beetles, caterpillars of all 

 kinds including the destructive tent and tussock-moth spe- 

 cieSj slugs, earthworms, ants, etc. I doubt if any one spe- 

 cies of bird, any one kind of animal or any single variety 

 of insect is as valuable for destroying injurious insects as 

 is the common toad. 



Dampness is necessary for a toad's existence; he needs 

 water, not to drink but with which to moisten his skin. 

 Nothing pleases him more than to squat in a shallow pud- 

 dle and soak for hours at a time. Unless disturbed, he 

 sleeps during a large part of the day but becomes quite 

 active towards evening and remains so as long as there is 

 a ray of light to guide him in his search for food. They 

 often remain all night under the street lights in cities, 

 gathering in all kinds of beetles and moths that come to 

 the ground. 



The skin of a toad is rough and "warty''; its color and 

 texture harmonize perfectly with loose soil so that it can- 

 not readily be seen by enemies while it is quiet. These 

 "warts" or excrescences are protective features in other 

 ways too, for they secret a fluid, disagreeable to the taste, 

 causing many animals and birds, that otherwise, would 

 eat them, to avoid them. Still a great many of them are 

 destroyed, especially by snakes and by skunks. 



Toads change their old clothes for new ones at least 

 four times each year. This shedding of the old skin is a 

 very interesting performance, but as it takes but a few 

 minutes to do it and we have no warning as to when it will 

 occur, it is a performance not commonly seen. We may 

 often find dried skins that have been shed by snakes but 

 we never find those of toads for the simple reason that 

 they always swallow their old clothes. When the new skin 

 is fully formed, the old is loosened from it, splits up the 

 back, down the belly and along each leg. By much wrig- 

 gling and freely using his hands, the skin is freed from his 



