The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-01-27
THE TOAD is voRAclous.
Ants cutworms and Honey Bees a
Favorite Diet.

Favorte Diet.
According to a recent bulletin issued
by the national government the toad
is a gross feeder He sallies forth
usually after shutdown in search of
his prey, which includes pretty nearly
every variety of insects and worm,
and experiment proves that in "a
hours he will consume insect food OF
a volume fourfold the capacity of his
stomach-in other words, he can fill
up four times. OF angle worms he
does not seem very fond, though his
gluttonous habit extends to them If
they are too temptingly abundant, as
after the earth has had good wetting.
Ants appear to be his chief delight,
with cutworms and thousand-leggers
next in order. Then come caterpil-
lars and beetles. Grasshoppers and
crickets furnish but a small part OF
his bill of fare and spiders still less.
He has no use, apparently for dead
prey; but when an insect. or worm
comes near him in motion he makes
for it eagerly A cutworm which has
discretion enough when in his neigh
borhood, to keep curled up, may cas-
lily escape; but as soon as it begins
to crawl, let it beware.
His method of capturing bug is
to dart out his tongue, which, by the
way, reverses the usual order of nat
ure, it being fastened in front and
loose behind. 1t is coated with a
gelatinous secretion, and when it
strikes an object it fastens firmly to
it and conveys it into the toad's mouth.
II the object, like big worm, for in
stance, is too large to go unassisted
into his gullet, he uses his forepaws,
like greedy child, to stuff it down.
Most of the viands which the toad
loves are, in their living state, pests
of the farm and garden. 1t is hard
to say just where to place ants in
this classification. Nearly all students
of nature, as well as persons who have
nothing but the traditions of their
childhood to guide their judgment,
have acquired a certain affection for
the ant It's seeming intelligence, its
artistic or mechanical instinct, it's I'M
firing industry, it's courage, its care
for its dead and wounded, its nice
domestic economy and its habit OF
providing against the rainy day." all
tend to give it sort of human claim
upon mankind.
Still, the fact cannot be ignored that
the ant is an active disturber of plant
lice; that it destroys lawns, spoils gar
den walks, infests dwellings, and
makes itself common nuisance in
the kitchen and pantry, driving the
dainty housewife almost to distraction.
In the same category with ants, as to
human regard, might be placed honey
bees, which the toad will eat when he
gets good chance,
One of his tricks is to station him
self at the entrance to hive and cap
ture the belated home-comers. AS the
toad does not spring into the air for
his food, however, any apiarist may
avoid this danger by raising his hives
well above the ground.
Reference has been made to the
toad's consumption of food as being
out of proportion to his bulk. But
what he can actually do at a sitting
is best told by figures derived from ex-
pertinent. His official record shows
one case where he ate ninety rose
bugs, without being satisfied; another
where he snapped up eighty-six house
flies in less than ten minutes. In one
toad's stomach were found II thous-
and-legged worms; in another 60 gypsy
moth caterpillars; in another SIS army
worms, and so on.
On the basis of his being able to fill
his stomach four times in "a hours,
it requires a simple mathematical cal
culation to discover how many of each
variety of winged or crawling pest q ,
single toad might get away with in
day if he kept at it and the conditions
were favorable, and multiplying this
product by 80, as representing the
days in summer-for Mr.. Toad is no
respecter of Sundays or holidays-we
can measure his potential capacity for
good as the gardeners friend.
lie nAfirafa Manooru