Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-09

unless he could manage to swallow the end
Of the branch; for with the last pair of legs
lett him the worm hung on desperately and
could not be detached.
waited patiently to see what would hap
pen next in this curious kind of deadlock
Would the worm let go, or the toad dsgorge
his prey, and retire in disgust?
FIVE, ten, fifteen minutes, and still both
worm and toad held on valiantly; and then
took pity on the sturdy little toad, and gently
detached the worm, letting both victor and
vanquished fall to the ground
Then IN twinllling the worm had come
to an end, because not an end of it was to
be seen-rather paradoxical but true. No
worm, but only wee green toad with won
derfully distended stomach
II any one supposes that our friend the
toad Is obliged to wear but one suit of clothes
all his life, that person is mistaken.
He orders complete new outfit every now
and then, OF most expert workwoman, one
Dame Nature; and for his old suit he
well, we will see how he takes it off first,
before disposing of it, which he does in
most unique manner.
Dame Nature, working silently and secret
y las is her way, makes him a new suit be-
meath the old one, and then kindly helps him
to remove the outgrown garments, so to
speak.
This done, our toad commences to ndress
by rubbing his elbows hard against his sides,
and pressing downward.
Directly, the old suit bursts open along his
back, and he keeps on rubbing until he has
worked it all in folds on his sides and hips;
then he seizes one of his hind legs with his
hands," and hauls off one leg Of his trou-
sers; and next the other leg is served in the
same way.
Before he takes off the rest of his suit he
disposes of his cast-off trousers by rolling
them up neatly and showing them down his
throat.
Then, by raising and lowering his head.
and swallowing little by little, he hauls off
ing one of these with the opposite hand, he
drags it off, wrong side out and swallows it
also, rubbing his neck at the same time, so
that his collar, cravat, and, in fact, every ves-
tige of his old suit, disappears altogether
Who shall say that the toad is not a mar
vel of political economy? Who of us, how
ever poor. eats up his old clothes?
Our little friend is great stay-at-home.
most wonderful stories have been told about
him regarding it,, such as his going into a
hole in tree and staying there so long that
the tree has time to spread its bark over the
entrance, and seal up the toad in its tiny
house.
There are other stories, too, of young
toad having crept through little crevice into
a hollow in a rock, to hibernate through the
winter, and being unable to leave it in the
spring. because of the rapid increase in its
size. And yet, in both these cases the toads
were found alive and hearty, even after years
must have elapsed since their imprisonment
Now, these stories are true thus far; but
hermeticaly sealed up and lived without
food or air they go further than the truth
In every case on record it has been
proved that some slight aperture existed,
whence both air and Insects could and did
pass into the prisoner
The celebrated Doctor Buckland determined
TO settle this mooted question once for all,
had some artificial cells made as nearly as
possible like the rock or wood prisons in which
toads have been found.
In these he sealed up number of toads.
Some of these, where the plaster was imper-
feet, admitting some air and insects, lived
three and four months-no more; while every
toad whose cell was really airtight died in
a month or six weeks
And thus were exploded those marvellous
tales of toads who had existed for many wears
without food OF air.