No. 516] 



TEE AMERICAN TOAD 



735 



lent, but at no time did she go longer than nine days 

 without feeding. Eight worms were the most she ever 

 ate at one time, while one to three constituted her usual 

 meal. She refused food during the day and fed only 

 from 7 to 10 p.m. 



Experiment No. V 

 This experiment is a duplicate of no. IV. with the 

 exception that two small toads (about 8 grams) were 

 used. The experiment began on the twenty-third of 

 October and continued until the death of the toads, 

 which, for the male, occurred December 15 and for the 

 female, February 10. The female fed throughout this 

 time with the exception of two periods, November 7-17 

 and December 18-February 10. During these two in- 

 tervals she at times appeared to be hibernating or simply 

 sleeping. It was almost a month before the male began 

 feeding, but afterwards fed until he died. At no period 

 did he show any tendency to hibernate. The male es- 

 caped from the cage and was found dried up. The female 

 refused food from December 18 to February 10, became 

 emaciated and died as though starved. 



Conclusions 



From experiment no. I, it is seen that toads go down 

 into the ground to hibernate and that all of those not 

 below the frost line in unsheltered places, perish. 



Experiment no. II shows that toads in protected places 

 can resist freezing temperature. 



It is a question whether toads make any preparation 

 at all for the winter more than simply burying deeper 

 than they are accustomed to do in the summer. Experi- 

 ment no. I shows that some had not hibernated as late 

 as November 26. Toads are active until it becomes too 

 cold for them to capture insects; as a cold wave comes, 

 the toads for the first time begin to prepare for winter 

 by digging a little deeper. As the ground gets colder, 



