Like the Frogs, of a number of Toads which I introduced into my garden, only three or four remained in the following year; and soon all disappeared, except one, whose end was peculiar and of dramatic interest. It occurred in this way: A neighbour kept in his adjacent garden some other reptiles, namely, some non-poisonous snakes. One of these seems to have escaped from its cage and got over the dividing wall into my garden, and on one summer morning was discovered by me on my grass-plot, with this Toad (about a half-grown one) in his mouth, which he was trying to kill or swallow. I suppose the Toad was too large or too lively, for the snake was making very serious exertions, and was actively agitating its body in a linear direction. When seen at a distance, it looked like a stout piece of cord or fine rope agitated by the wind, with a movement like that of a carpet when it is flapped and shaken. The Toad had been seized by the hinder part of its back, as shown by the two bleeding punctures afterwards found.
When the snake saw me advancing towards it, it rapidly wriggled or undulated away towards the ivy-covered wall, where it was lost. But it retained its hold of the Toad almost to the last, and until I had got quite close up to it.
This incident is not only interesting, but it also shows that these reptiles must have some instinctive power of knowing of the neighbourhood of comparatively distant prey; for the rockery stones from which it was taken must have been at least thirty to forty yards from its own domicile. Such an instinct would seem to be the equivalent of that well known to be possessed by birds of prey. I regret that this poor Toad did not long survive his fright and bad usage.
My Toads have exhibited the usual tendency of these animals to hide away beneath stones or earth, and in unfrequented corners. When discovered it is curious to watch their half-frightened expression, and their peculiar mode of breathing by their under jaw, which appears at once to increase in rapidity. They do not resist much when handled, but it is curious to note how they continue to swell their sides out, until they produce a very prominent rotundity of their body. After the episode of the Snake and my Toad, the idea suggests itself that this is intended to make themselves as large as possible, not from envy of the Ox, as stated in the fable with reference to the Frog, but to make themselves too large a morsel to be swallowed by the lesser of those animals which prey upon them.
These “Toads in holes” would come out from their retreat in dry weather, a few hours before rain, after which they would again disappear, often for a long season.
Insects.—There are plenty of these in every garden, however small; and Bees, Flies, Beetles, and especially Spiders, would afford a never ending source of interest. The only insects which I have specially watched are Ants, nests and colonies of which appear and reappear every summer upon my garden paths, or upon the adjacent portions of the grass-plots.
We all know of the very numerous observers of and writers upon these little creatures; and their works, from Huber down to Sir John Lubbock, will be more or less familiar to us all. Their industry, their building powers, their gregarious nature, their division of labour, their apparent working for the common good, their devotion to the young, their colonizing instincts, as well as some of the changes which their insect forms undergo, are all there recorded.
And many of these things are easily to be observed by anyone who takes the trouble.
I can only venture here to make one or two brief notes on their proceedings in St. Giles’s Street.
Both the small brown and the small black Ants are to be here seen, but they occupy different positions; and not only do not seem to be on neighbourly terms with each other, but fight at once if experimentally placed together.