Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-10-03
ToAp's EATING POWER.
Makes Little Discrimination, Just 8
His Prev In Alive and Plentiful.

His Prey Is Alive and Plentiful.
The toad is gross feeder. He SAL
lies forth usually after sundown In
search Of his prey, which includes
pretty nearly 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
angle worms he does not seem very
fond though his giuttonous habit ex-
tends to them II they are too tempting
ly abundant, as after the earth has had
a good wetting. Ants appear to be his
chief delight, with cutworms and thou
sand -leggers next In order. Then come
caterpillars and beetles. Grasshoppers
and crickets furnish but q 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 curied up, may easily
escape; but as soon as 1t begins to
crawl, let 1t beware. His method Of
capturing bug is to dart out his ton
que, which, by the way, reverses the
usual order Of nature in being fastened
In front and loose behind. It Is coated
with a glutinous secretion, and when
1t strikes an object 1t fastens firmly
% 1t and conveys It into the toad's
mouth. II the object, like a big worm
for instance Is too large to go unas-
sisted into his gullet he uses his fore
paws, like a 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. It Is hard to say
lust where to place ants in this classi-
fication. Nearly all students Of nature,
as well as persons who have nothing
but the traditions of their childhood
to guide their Judgment, have acquired
certain affection for the ant. Its
seeming intelligence, its artistic or
mechanical instinct, its untiring indus
try, its courage. its care for its dead
and wounded. its nice domestic econo-
my and Its habit Of providing against
the "rainy day." all tend to give 1t a sort
Of human claim upon US. Still. the
fact cannot be ignored that the ant Is
an active distributor Of plant lice, that
II destroys lawns makes itself q COM
mon nuisance In the kitchen and pam
try, driving the dainty housewife al
most to distraction. In the same cat
egory with ants, as to human regard,
might be placed honey bees, which the
toad eats when he gets a good chance.
One Of his tricks Is to station himself
1t the entrance to a hive and capture
the belated home comers. AS the toad
does not spring into the air for his
food, however, any aspirant may avoid
this danger by raising his hives well
above the ground.
Reference has been made to the
'oad's consumption of food as being
out Of proportion to his bulk. But what
he can actually do at sitting is best
tod by figures derived from expert
ment. His official record shows one
case where he ate 80 rosebugs without
being satisfied; another where he snap
ped up So housefies in less than 10
minutes. In one toad's stomach were
found II thousand legged worms; In
another IS gypsy moth caterpillars; in
another 55 army worms; and 80 on.
On the basis of his being able to fill his
stomach four times in "a hours, 1t re-
quires a simple mathematical calcula-
ton to discover how many Of each
variety Of winged or crawling pest a
single toad might get away with in a
day II he kept at 1t and the conditions
were favorable; and multiplying this
product by 80. as representing the days
in a summer-for Mr.. Toad Is no res
pecter Of Sundays or holidays-we can
measure his potential capacity for
good as the gardeners friend.-United
States Government Bulletin.