Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-26
TOADS AND BATS.
Their Usefulness in the House Dem
Onstrated by Experiment.

Their Usefulness in the House Dem
onstrated by Experiment..
From the New York Herald.
AS result of experiments with toads and
bats, it has been demonstrated that house,
or even community, can be rid Of various
troublesome insects, including flies and
n. osquitoes. These experiments were made
by Prof. Clinton F. Hodge of Clark Uni
versity, Worcester, Mass. Prof. Hodges
first experiment was with the toad. Il con-
structed small pen in my garden" he
said, land III it, in pan of water, installed
a male and female toad. To attract food
for them placed within the Enclosure bits
Of meat and bone. The results were as
satisfactory 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 eighty-six house flies in less than
ten minutes.
"One day I gathered quantity Of rose
bugs in a tin box and began to feed the
bugs to a toad At first / did not count,
but. finding his appetite so good I started
to count When 1 had counted over eighty
bugs and the toad showed no signs of wish
ing to conclude his meal, I picked him up.
Previous to my beginning to count he had
taken anywhere from ten to twenty bugs.
Il found the toad equally greedy for rose
beetles, canker worms. ants, caterpillars
moths. June bugs, weevils. snails and many
other insects. So, too in a house, a room
may be cleared of cockroaches by leaving
toad in it over night.
"A single toad may destroy over 1000
worms during the months of May, June and
July and one Of these harmless creatures
may well Go a gardener service to the
amount of $19.SS each season, and yet he
can raise 10000 worth of toads at an ex-
pense of not more than twenty cents.
Farmers in England buy them, paying
q 9 For ~, hi,
beds and gardens. For household purposes
a small number of toads could be given
homes in an aquarium. AT night the toads
could be let loose to kill bugs while in the
day they could kill flies. I have built a sort
of cage of wire screen foot wide and two
feet long, the top of which is kept open.
1t is only necessary to put in two three
toadS provide them with shelters, dish of
water in one corner. and then keep it sup
piled with bits of raw meat and any other
refuse matter calculated to attract flies"
In speaking of the bat Prof. Hodge said:
I'VE have no animal more interesting and
| probably none more valuable, and certainly
none more understood and abused than the
| bat. They are easily tanned absolutely
| harmless when gently handled, and make
pets as funny as tiny monkeys. AS Destroy
ers of many of our most pestiferous night
| flying insects, like mosquitoes the bat is
| almost our sole dependence 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
| blame for most worm-eaten apples. In an
| orchard near my home 1 found nine of the
| grubs of this insect In minute. CHANGING
to go into another orchard. hardly a mile
| away. ] found only four of the grubs in an
| hours search. There is an old barn near
| by, in which live colony of between sew
| enty-five and one hundred bats The owner
informed me that his apples were always
| free from worms.