The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-03-13
THE TOAD AND HIS PREY.
Peculiar Provisions Of Nature by which
He Can Eat Insects.


] recently spent Eve or six hours on
steamboat in company with stranger from
Brookville-a modest, intelligent man, full
twenty years my junior. Just as we were
nearing the city of Bangor the remark
Of q third party led him to say that the
most curious thing he had ever seen in his
life was on occasion of his splitting huge
bowlder in field that he might use the
pieces for q stone wall, and finding in the
center of il great fat toad If his report
was true it would seem that the toad must
have crawled in or fallen into the assure
the first year of his life, and have found in
there sufficient supply of insects, either
crawling in or falling in, TO sustain his life
for four or five years.
Ipresume you are all aware of the pecul-
lar manner in which the toad seizes his
prey. The root of his tongue Is fastened
in the very front of his upper jaw. while
the tip lies far down his throat. 1t thus
lies directly over his windpipe, and he
would not be able to breathe were not his.
tongue perforated in the middle, exactly in
the right place, so that it can act, opening
or contracting, somewhat in the manner Of
the CLOTHS. When he sees any moving
thing which he judges to be an insect, he,
throws the tip of his tongue out with great
accuracy of aim, picks the insect up, and.
thrusts it down his throat with the rapid
ity of lightning. Lay down an apple core
or little piece of single smeared with
molasses near a toad and you must watch
very sharply to see how it is that he so
rapidly transfers every fly that settles on
your bait to his own stomach
The accuracy of aim in the young toad
is similar to the accuracy with which the
young quail or chicken picks up grain.
A young chicken, having only its head
out of the shell, picked up fly that
lighted near it. And, said Mr.. Calthrop.
when you consider the nice cooperation of
nervous and muscular movements neces-
sary to this feat, you will perceive that
the chicken must have been practicing fly
catching in the person of its ancestry for
thousands or millions Of years. But once
had curious proof that the toad is capablei
of improvement by practice Under bee
hive in garden at Cambridge / observed.
for several successive summers toad
watching for overloaded bees who failed
to reach the threshold of the hive. No.
sooner did they fall on the ground than he,
snapped them up. But one day | saw
he had lost BIZ some accident his right eve.
and when he struck at q bee he lost his
aim and picked up dirt from one side Of
the bee. He wiped his mouth with his
fore paw and tried again and again. The
bee generally managed to climb to the top.
of some little prominence on the ground
and fly away before the toad succeeded.
The poor fellow was half starved and grew
thin, but observed that before the sum-
mer was ended he had learned to aim as
correctly with one eye as he used to with
two, and had again recovered his plump
ness
The toads tongue usually puts things.
down his throat so nicely that he does not
need much power of swallowing. but he
occasionally needs it and is forced to make
I'D by mother wit what is lacking in the
powers of his throat You will observe
this most frequently in his attempt to take
grasshopper or locust. A toad will
frequently attack an object that is really
too large for him to get into his mouth at
al. Thus have seen one attempt huge
caterpillar of q sphinx, and have known
of one undertaking wounded humming-
bird. In this case it was perfect failure.
But when toad has transferred the head
of large locust TO his stomach, and finds
the hind legs and tail are still protruding
from the mouth, he usually turns to the
nearest stone or fence and pushes the
grasshoppers legs against the obstacle IN
til he has rammed il into his mouth. IL
would seem from this that his stomach is
capable of considerable mechanical extern
sion without giving pain. And were his
stomach not somewhat insensible, he would
neither be capable of enduring the long
fasts to which he must sometimes submit
nor of indulging with IMMUNITY in the
feastipg and over-eating which we some
times observe in him.