We eat also snails, injurious beetles, grasshoppers, worms, potato bugs, and lots more of harmful creatures. Well, ants and spiders may be useful, but ants are a question, and we eat few spiders. Spiders are lots of fun to catch, though. See, there is one! See how my tongue shot out at him? My tongue is fastened to the lower jaw at the front of my mouth. You didn’t see it? Well, I suppose we toads do use our tongues pretty quickly. They have a sticky substance spread over them, so we’re pretty certain to make our “catch.” “Now, Feather Flop, I think I’ve told you almost everything. Is there anything else you’d like to know?” Mary Frances had been listening with all her ears. “My, there are things I’d like to know,” she thought. “How I wish he’d talk to me!” “No,” said Feather Flop in a crestfallen voice, “I don’t think of any. I certainly must acknowledge that you are usefuller than I thought!” “Thanks! All right!” replied the toad, taking a hop. “Hold on, please, Hoppy!” Mary Frances ventured to call. The toad turned. “Please, Mr. Hop Toad,” she begged, “please will you tell me something? I’ve overheard your wonderful story. If it is not too inquisitive, may I ask why your throat puffs all the time?” “Certainly, certainly,” croaked the toad, “my voice is hoarse, Miss, but I’ll do my best to answer. You see, we toads have no ribs to use when we breathe, so we have to swallow every bit of air we use.” “Oh,” said Mary Frances, “that is it. I am so much obliged to you for telling me. Here is a fish-worm—or do you call them angle-worms, or earth-worms?—for you!” “A fish-worm!” exclaimed the toad. “That is fine. Throw it down, please. No, that is the wrong end toward me. Fish-worms wear rough rings along their bodies which hurt the throat if swallowed the wrong way foremost. They’re pretty large to get down, so I may have to rub it down my throat with my hands.” This the funny little toad did, and after getting it down, patted its little stomach. “My, it was so good. I shut my eyes while I swallowed!” he said. Mary Frances laughed outright. “I’m glad I gave you a treat,” she said. “I wish I knew something else I could do to make you happy.” “Then just take a stick and scratch my back, please.” Mary Frances did as requested. Feather Flop looked on all the while without a word. At length he blurted out, “You told me, little Miss, I think, that fish-worms were good for the garden—that they stir the soil and make it light and porous. I’ve never eaten one since you told me that!” He looked scornfully at the toad. Mary Frances smiled. “Oh, Feather Flop, indeed I thank you, but you see, we don’t need so many of them. You could take one once in a while.” “I must be going,” said the toad, “and I thank you, Miss. You’re much more polite and kind than some people I’ve known!” glancing at the rooster. “He means the boy that stoned him,” said Feather Flop.