No. 515] 



THE AMERICAN TOAD 



(XI 



a viscid substance that loosens the old from the new and 

 leaves the body moist for a short time after the old skin 

 has been shed. The whole process is accomplished in 

 about two minutes. 



The following is a record of the work done by an adult 

 male (weighing 36 g.) in twenty-seven hours. The dis- 

 tance traveled in this time was 85 feet, and the number 

 of insects taken, 23. Twenty hours and five minutes were 

 spent in burrows and, for the rest of the time, the toad was 

 active only one hour and forty-seven minutes. It is prob- 

 able that the period of activity from 7 :20-8 :40 a.m. would 

 have been lessened had not another toad entered the bur- 

 row of the one under observation and forced him out. 

 More than half of the total distance traveled in the twenty- 

 seven hours was covered in quest of a second burrow. 

 The following is the time spent in the burrows. 



July 25, 1 :50 p.m.-7 :55 p.m. 



July 25, 11 :50 p.m.-2 :30 a.m. 



July 26, 4:05 a.m.-7 :20 a.m. 



July 26, 8 :40 a.m.~4 :00 p.m. 



The food taken consists entirely of animal matter. Min- 

 eral or vegetable material is often found in the toad's 

 stomach, but it is there by accident. I have found as 

 much as 0.07 gram of coal and sand in the stomach of a 

 5.5-gram toad ; it had just swallowed its skin and along 

 with it the coal and sand which stuck to it. I have also 

 seen pieces of grass, winged seeds and other bits of plants 

 snapped up and swallowed with insects. 



The amount a toad will eat in twenty-four hours seems 

 somewhat astonishing if we were to judge from various 

 reports. Miss Ellen M. Foskett records one feeding of a 

 large toad as ninety to one hundred rose beetles. ShQ also 

 adds that " the toad showed no signs of wishing to con- 

 clude his meal." Kirkland found " the remains of sev- 

 enty-seven myriapods in a single stomach, fifty-live 

 army worms in another, sixty-five gypsy moth caterpil- 

 lars in a fourth. In these cases, however, but one kind 

 of food was present and the toads were above the usual 

 size." He states further, on the authority of Mr. J. E. 



