The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-28
DEADLY ENEMIES OF INSECTS.

Toads and Bats Make War on Flies,
Reaches and Mosquitoes.
From the Bangor Industrial Report
AS result of experiments with toadS
and bats it has been demonstrated that a
house, or even a community, can be rid
of various troublesome insects, including
flies and mosquitoes. These experiments
were made by Professor Clinton F. Hodge
of Clark university, Worcester, Mass.
Professor Hodges first experiment was
with the toad.
Il constructed a small pen in my gar
dem he said, land in it, in pan of wa
ter, installed a male and a female toad.
To attract food for them l placed within
+, the Enclosure bits of meat and bone. The
results were as satisfactory as they were
unexpected. The toads spent most of the
time sitting within reaching distance of
the bait and killing the flies attracted by
1t. L watched one toad snap up Sc house
flies in less than 10 minutes
one day l gathered a quantity of rose
bugs In tin box and began to feed the
bugs to a toad. At first l did not count
but finding his appetite so good l started
to count. When l had counted more than
~ Bugs ana the toad showed no signs of
"lshlng to conclude his meal picked him
up. PREVIOUS to my beginning to count
he had taken anywhere from 10 to 20
buss. found the toad equally greedy
ASt'S =,
caterpiliars, moths, June bugs, weevils,
snails and many other insects So, too. in
a house. room may be cleared of cock
reaches by leaving a toad in it over
night.
"A single toad may destroy more than
Z,ooo worms during the months of May.
June and July. and one of these harmless
creatures may Weir. do a gardener service
to the amount of $l9.SS each season. and
yet he can raise $4,000 worth of toads at
an expense of not more than 20 cents.
Farmers in England buy them, pay
ing as high as $24 a thousand for use in
their flower beds and gardens. For house.
hold purposes a small number of toads
could be given homes in an aquarium AT
night the toads could be let loose to XIII
bugs, while in the day they could kill flies.
l have built sort OF cage. or wire screen
foot wide and two feet long, the ton
of which is kept open. 1t Is only neces-
sary to put in two or three toads, provide
them with shelter, with a dish of water
in one corner, and then keep them sup
piled with bits of raw meat and any 9TH
er refuse matter calculated to attract
flies
I'm speaking of the bat Professor
Hodge said:
I'VE have no animal more interesting
and probably none more valuable, and
certainly none less understood and more
abused than the bat. They are easily
tanned, absolutely harmless when gently
handled and make pets as funny as tiny
monkeys. AS destroyers of many of our
most pestiferous night-fying insects, like
mosquitoes, the bat is almost our sole de-
pendence and as he is known to hunt
insects afoot- as well as on the wing. he
Is also of some value for larvae that do
not fly.
My attention was turned to the bat
through the Goblin moth. the insect to
plame Tor most worm-eaten apples. In an
oFchafd near my home I found nine Of
the grubS of this insect in a minute
chahclng to go to another orchard, hard
~ mile away, l found only four of the
grnns IN an hours search There is an
oid barn near by in which live a colony
OF between 10 and 100 bats. The owner in
formed me that his apples were always
free from worms