American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-10-11
Miscellany.
Toad, Worm, Bee and Fly Stories.

DIR. THOMAS HILL, scientist, at the re-
cent Convention of the Society for the
Advancement of Science. at Portland,
made the following statement:
In the summers of 1855 an old toad
used to sit under the door of a beehive
every fine evening and dextrOusly pick
up those bees who were laden, or tired,
or missed the doorstep and fell to the
ground.
When our toad gets into his mouth part
of an insect too large for his tongue TO
thrust down his thrt at (and have known
of their attempting wounded humming-
BIRD, he resorts to the nearest stone or
clod and presses the protruding part OF
his mouthful against it and thus crowds
it down his throat. This can be observed
at any time by tying a locust's hind legs
together and throwing it before toad.
On one occasion gave a ''yellow-striped"
locust to a little toad in its second sum-
mer, when he was in the middle of very
wide gravel walk. In moment he had
the locust's head down his throat. its
hinder parts protruding, and looking
around for a stone or clod, but finding
none at hand in either direction, he bowed
his head and crept along, pushing the To-
Gust against the ground. But the angle
with the ground was too small, and my
walk too well rolled. To increase the
angle he Strengthened his hind legs up,
but in vain. At length he threw up his
hind quarters, and actually stood on his
head, or rather on the locust sticking out
of his mouth, and after repeating this
once or twice, succeeded in "getting him.
self outside of his dinner
l was tossing a four-year-old toad lat
Antioch College, earthworms, while dig
ging, and presently threw him so large a
specimen that he was obliged to attack
one end only. That end was instantly
L.,
writhing free in the air and coiled about
the toad's head. He waited until his
writings gave him a chance, swallowed
half an inch, then taking nip with his
jaws. waited for a chance to draw in an
other half inch. But there were so many
half inches to dispose of that at length
his jaws grew tired, lost their firmness of
grip, and the worm crawled out five
eiqhths of an inch between each half
inch swallowing. The toad, perceiving
this, brought his right hand to aid his
jaws, grasping his abdomen with his foot,
and by little effort, getting hold of the
worm in his stomach from the outside,
he thus by his foot held fast to what he
gained by each swallow, and presently
succeeded in getting the worm entirely
down.
A garter-snake was observed this sum-
mer in North Conway, pushing toad
down his throat by running it against the
clods and stones, just as the toad crowds
down a locust.
The amount which a toad can eat is
surprising. On Tuesday threw a squash
bug To young toad. He snapped it up,
but Immediately rejected it, wiped his
mouth with great energy, a0d then hoped
away with extraordinary rapidly. l was
so much amused that / gathered some
more of the SOW. bug and carried them to
a favorite old toad at the northeast corner
of the house. He ate them all without
any wry faces. | gathered all that |
could find on my vines, and he ate them
all to the number of twenty-three. l then
brought him some laTvs of pygPra
menistra, three-quarters grown, and sue
ceetled IN enticing him to put ninety four !
on the top of his squash-bugs. Finding |
that his virtue was not proof against the I
caferpfll rs when put them on the end
of a straw and tickled his nose with them, 4
he at length turned and crept under the ,
piazza where he remained until Friday 4
digesting his feast
This, ike the paper on snakes brought .
several members TO their feet, but the I
climax was finally capped by man who .
had seen toad swallow with relish 113 .
house-fiies.