No. 515] 



THE AMERICAN TOAD 



663 



beetles, 1 click beetle, 4 bugs (Cydnidae), 1 tiger beetle, 1 moth, 7 ground 

 beetles, 6 ants, 1 millipede and 1 sowbug; total 24. 



The above data on six stomachs are given in order to 

 show what a toad feeds upon while in its natural habitat. 

 So far as known a toad will eat any arthropod, mollusc or 

 worm that it can easily swallow, without regard to spines, 

 stings, noxious odor or taste. The question then is, in 

 determining the economic importance of the toad's feed- 

 ing habits, not to know how much it can or will eat, but 

 to know, how much it actually does eat. Owing to the 

 slow digestive rate of the toad, stomach examinations give 

 us a close approximation to the desired information. 



It is stated by Kirkland that a toad will fill its stomach 

 four times per day. This seemed to me to necessitate 

 rather rapid digestion for a cold-blooded animal, and I 

 made the following experiment to test it. 



August 8, a female weighing 35 grams was killed thir- 

 teen hours after having fed on three Colorado potato 

 beetles and two grasshoppers. Examination of the stom- 

 ach showed the beetles still entire. The grasshoppers 

 had disintegrated, but none of the food had passed from 

 the stomach. 



August 26, 2 :00 p.m., two toads, nos. 1 and 2, weigh- 

 ing seven and twenty-five grams, respectively, were fed 

 chiefly on grasshoppers. Eighteen hours later, no. 1 was 

 killed and at the end of twenty-two hours, no. 2. All of 

 the food was still in the stomach of no. 1 but well digested. 

 Stomach no. 2 contained a portion of the food, but most 

 had passed into the intestine. 



August 30, 11:30 p.m., a toad weighing twenty grams 

 was fed on two beetles, two grasshoppers and one fly. 

 When examined eight hours later the stomach showed: 

 the grasshoppers well digested, but not disintegrated 

 and the fly and both beetles still entire. 



These tests demonstrate that a toad can not fill its stom- 

 ach more than once in twenty-four hours. A toad will 

 eat at intervals when its stomach is only partially filled, 

 but to completely fill it four times a day is out of the 

 question. 



