Care should be taken to wash one's
hands after touching a toad, as this liquid is also very irritating to
the eyes, and might be rubbed into them.
The most curious thing about a toad is its tongue. This is very long,
and its tip is turned backward into the mouth. It can dart out and snap
up a fly or a beetle so quickly that it is almost impossible to see the
motion.
Toads are not only harmless, but they are our very good friends. If they
are not disturbed they will live a long time in one place, and destroy
many bugs and insects that injure our gardens.
It has been estimated that every year in this country property to the
amount of $400,000,000 is destroyed by insects. If this is true all
creatures which feed upon insects are entitled to our care and
gratitude.
The United States Department of Agriculture has published a paper on the
toad. It estimates that he saves to the farmer, by eating the cutworms
which destroy the crops, about twenty dollars every season.
Toads eat the common house-fly, which is such an annoyance to us. A toad
has been seen to snap up eighty-six flies in less than ten minutes.
Toads are sometimes kept for pets, and they are not lacking in
intelligence. Once a toad lived in a garden, and every day at the dinner
hour he came to be fed.
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