The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-03-03
THE GREEDY TOAD.
Ants, cutworms and Hcaeybees Are
Favorite Diet,

Ants, Cutworms and Hcaeybees Are
! Favorite Diet.
The toad Is gross feeder. He sallies
forth usually after sundown In search
OF his prey, which includes pretty near
every variety of insect and worm, and
experiment proves that In twenty -four
hours he will consume insect food OF
volume fourfold the capacity Of his
stomach-in other words, he can fill up
four times, OF angleworms he does not
seem very fond though his gluttoncus
habit extends TO them IL they are too
temptingly abundant, as after the
earth has had good wetting.
Ants appear TO be his chief delight,
with catwurms ami Thousand leggers
next in order. Then come caterpillars
and beetles. Grasshoppers and crickets
furnish but 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 II eagerly. A cut
worm which has discretion enough
when in his nelghborhood to keep curl.
Ell up may easily escape, bu, as soon
as II begins to travel let 1t beware.
His method of capturing hug Is to
dart out his tongue, which, by tue way.
severses the usual order of nature, II
being fastened In front ard loose be-
bird. II is coated with gelatinous Sc.
cretion, and when II strikes an object II
fastens firmly to II and conveys II into
the toad's mouth If the object, like
big worm. for instance is too large TO
go unasSis'ed into his gullet, he uses
his forepaws, like greedy child, to
stuff ii 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 classlf. |
cation. 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. Its seem.
ing intelligence, its artistic or mechan.
ical instinct, Its untiring industry. its
courage, IFS care for its dead and
wounded. its nice domestic economy
and its habit of providing against the
rainy day" all tend to give II sort OF
human claim upon mankind.
Still the fact cannot be ignored that
the ant is an active distributor Of plant
lice; that II destroys lawns. spoils gar.
den walks, infests dwellings and makes
itself common nuisance In the kitch-
en- aud pantry, driving the housewife
almost to distraction, In the same cat.
egory with ants as 10 human regard
might be placed the honeybee, which
the toad will eat when he gets a good
chance.
One Of his tricks is to station himself
at the entrance TO hive and capture
the belated home comers. AS the toad
does not soring 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
toads consumption Of food as being out
1f proportion to his bulk. But what
he can actually do nj a sitting Is best
told by figures derived from expert.
ment. His official record shows one
case where he ate ninety rose bugs
without being satisfied; another where
ne snapped up eight house flies in less
han ten minutes. In one toad's stom-
ich were found seventy-seven thou
worms, in another sixty
I've gypsy moth caterpillars, In anoth-
,r ffty-flve army worms and so on.
On the basis OF his beng able to fill
lis stomach four times in twenty-four
lours, 1t requires a simple mathemat-
cal calculation to discover how many
II each variety Of winged or crawling
)est single toad might get away
With in day II he kept at 1t and the
were favorable, and, multi.
'lying this product by ninety, as repre-
enting the days In summer-for Mr..
Toad is no respecter Of Sundays or hol,
days-we can measure his potential ca
Iacity for good as the gardeners