The toad feeds on worms as well as flies, and when after a rain the worms and toads are mutually inspired to take their walks abroad, many a luckless worm finds its way into the toad’s maw. He never eats a dead insect. In winter the toad hibernates like the frog, and since the young toad reaches its adult size in the autumn, it passes the first period of its grown-up life in a sleep, or coma, in some hole or burrow which it has found or fashioned in the earth. Sometimes toads creep into rock-crevices or into hollows in logs and trees, and being found in these places early in the spring, are hastily supposed to have been prisoners for many years. The toad, as well as the frog, casts its skin in the process of growth. When the skin has become too small, and the shedding approaches, the white, green, and brown colors of the coat become dull, and a peculiar dryness appears. A new skin is forming under the outgrown one, which presently splits in half down the middle of the back and the under part of the body. The toad now begins to twist and twitch, and the old skin wrinkles and folds along the sides. Then the toad tucks a hind-leg under his forearm, and gives a good pull, and lo, he is out of that leg of his trousers. Then the other leg comes off in the same style. Next he puts one of his hands in his mouth, and giving a jerk, off comes the covering of that hand and arm, like a discarded glove. Then off with the other. Now then, what? Why, he rolls the outgrown skin into a neat ball and swallows it. No second-hand clothes sold or given away by Mr. Bufo. The frog strips off and disposes of his skin in the same way. Toads and frogs can change to some extent the color of their skins to suit their homes. Toads kept in the dark with dark surroundings become dark in color; and those kept in light with white or light accessories become lighter; but the color of the toad changes more slowly than that of the frog. The arrangement of the color does not alter; the change is merely from light to dark. Let us now look at some curious specimens of the Bufonidæ. The pipa, or Surinam toad, does not lay its eggs in water. The mother toad places the eggs on her back, and a fold of skin rising up encloses each egg in a separate cell, until the young have not only hatched, but have passed through all their metamorphoses, and come out fully formed. Another toad, common in Europe and Asia, is largely colored with bright crimson, and the father toad carries the little ones in separate cells fastened to his hind-legs like chains. In these cells the little ones change to their perfect shape, when the cells wither away and the young toads hop out able to take care of themselves.