The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-09-11

so well that they buy them BY the
dozen and turn them into their hot
beds, thus preserving their plants from
insects. Not only in our gardens are
toads extremely useful, but in our
houses they are valuable allies; for
they do no harm to us, but very much
to our sworn enemies, such as cock
reaches, moths. crickets, flies, mos
quitoes and ants. They need but to
see an insect stir, and out flashes that
wonderful tongue. And, prestol
where Is itp Why, down In the little
throat, landed ut the exact spot where
the muscles can seize It and pass 1t ut
once to the stomach. And so rapidly
is this done that when a large insect,
like cricket, grasshoppcr or beetle,
is swallowed, the sides of the toad may
be seen actually twitching, from the
struggles of its still lively victim.
Entomologists press our friend the
toad into their service in manner
that is as novel as it is comical. They
catch him at daybreak from the field
or garden, kill him, and turn his stom-
ach wrong side out in a pan of water.
OF course all the recently-caught in
sects float to the surface, at the ento-
mologists' service. This looks like .
rather cruel method of studying
entomology, does it notp But the truth
| Is, that the humble little toad is more
expert catcher and dscoverer than his
human superior. and out of his rifled
store-house come treasures in the
| shape of rare and tiny nocturnal in
sects that but for his industry would
never have been known or classified by
our savants.
1t is not alone winged insects that
the toad feasts upon. There is moth
ing he likes better, for q change of
| diet, than nice, fat worm, and, as
the children say, sit is as good as q
play to see him eating a worm--one
that wriggles and twists and sguirms
as if it knew it had fallen into the
hands of a relentless enemy. And 1t
is literally the hands of its captor that
are fatal to it, for 1t would be simply
impossible for the toad to swallow his
wrlggling victim, did he not use his
| fore paws exactly as we use our hands.
AS it is, he is sublimely Indifferent to
his squirming. He sits calmly down
| with it in his mouth, lifts one paw,
and gives it n push further into his
mouth, and then he swallows, and
down it goes, just a little way. Then
up comes the other paw for another
push, and at last, by alternate pushes
and swallows, the poor worm van
ishes, and our toad sits quietly at ease,
with all the satisfaction of full st0m-
ach twinkling in his eyes
Ii any one supposes that our friend
the toad is obliged to wear but one suit
of clothes all his life, thatperson is mis-
taken. He orders Il complete new outfit
every now and then, of most expert
work-woman, one Dame Natures; and
as for his, old suit, newell, we will
see how he takes it off first, before dis
pos s.ng of it,. which he does in most
unique manner Dame Nature, work
ing silently and secretly, as is her way,
makes him q new suit beneath the old
one, and then kindly helps him to re-
move the outgrown garments, so to
speak. This done, our toad commences
to undress by rubbing his elbows hard
against his sides, and pressing down
ward. Directly, the old suit bursts
open along his back, and he keeps on
rubbing until he has worked it all in
folds on his sides and hips; then he
seizes one Of his hind legs with his
'hands," and hauls off one leg of his
trousers; and next the other leg is
served in the same way. Before he
takes off the rest of his suit, he disposes
of his cast-off trousers by rolling them
up neatly and showing them down his
throat. Then, by raising and lowering
his head, and swallowing little by little,
he hauls off his coat until he comes to
the sleeves. Grasping one of these with
hn ncit ta ha lr, 4 <,H
wrong side out, and swallows it also,
rubbing his neck at the same time. so
that his collar, cravat, and. in fact,
every vestige of his old suit, disappears
altogether. Who shall say that the
toad is not marvel of political econ
OmyP Who of US, however poor, eats
up his old clothesp
Our little friend is great stay-at-
home Indeed, he is SO noted in this
respect that wonderful stories have
been told about him regarding it, such
as his going into hole in tree and
staying there so long that the tree had
time to spread its bark over the en-
trance, and seal up the toad in its tiny
house. There are other stories, too,
of a young toad having crept through
little crevice into hollow rock, to
hibernate through the winter, and be-
ing unable to leave it in the spring, be-
cause of the rapid increase in its size.
And yet, in both these cases the toads
were found alive and hearty, even after
years must have elapsed since their i'm
prisOnment
Now, these stories are true thus far;
but when you 60 on to state that these
toads were hermetically sealed up,
and lived without food or air, they 90
further than the truth warrants. In
every case on record, it has been
proven that some slight aperture exist
ed, whence both air and insects could
and did pass IN to the prisoner. Golden
Days.