the old egg rope or gather on the edge of the dish. They do not look like toads, to be sure, but they are doing their best, and you must be patient.

These little wriggling things are tadpoles.

Some persons call them polliwogs. They live at first upon the food stored in the egg, just as a little chick feeds upon the food the old hen stored in her egg. When this egg food is all used up the tadpole must find other food or starve.

It now feeds

It now feeds upon the small plants so abundant in all ponds. If the tadpole cannot find other food it will turn upon its weaker brothers and eat them up. Tadpoles do not know that this is very wrong.

At

It takes about two months for the tadpole to become a toad. first it remains under the water all the time. But as it grows older and larger, it begins to act in a queer manner. It rushes to the surface of the water and then

dives rapidly to the bottom again. It does this again and again. What is the cause of this? The tadpole cannot tell; but you ought to know.

The real cause is that the tadpole is getting lungs. It is getting ready to breathe the free air, as it will when it becomes a toad and lives on the land.

Now see! the tadpole is getting legs. Its head is changing, and the color of its body is much lighter. It would be a toad now if it were not for its long tail. What will happen to that tail? Do you think it will drop off?

Watch it. It is growing shorter and shorter, and at last it is gone. The tadpole eats its own tail. And it does this so carefully that the skin is not in any way harmed. The tad

pole must become a toad, just as a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly, and when it is a toad it will not need to swim. It has no more use for its tail. That is why a tadpole eats its tail.

And now the little tadpole must say goodby to the soft, smooth mud, the pretty plants, and the cool water. It will now have to live on the hard, dry ground. The toad hops away to find its supper, for it feeds best at night. And what will it eat? It will eat animal food, and that must be alive. How does it catch its food? If you watch a toad carefully you will see it eat a meal. It has a long tongue. This tongue is fastened at the front of its mouth, and not at the back, like yours. The end of the tongue is sticky, like fly paper.

When an

insect comes near out flies this tongue, it touches the insect, and the toad winks and swallows, and is ready for another insect..

The toad is harmless and useful. Many of the insects and worms that toads eat are not friends of fruit or grain. The toads eat these enemies of man's food, and in this way do

much good. It is said that one toad will destroy ten thousand insects in a single summer.

burrow crick'ět

musk'răt

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XLVIII.-OVER IN THE MEADOW.

Over in the meadow,

In the sand, in the sun,
Lived an old mother-toad

And her little toadie one.
"Wink!" said the mother;
"I wink," said the one:
So she winked and she blinked,
In the sand, in the sun.

Over in the meadow,

Where the stream runs blue,

Lived an old mother-fish

And her little fishes two.

Swim!" said the mother;

"We swim," said the two:

So they swam and they leaped,

Where the stream runs blue.

Over in the meadow,

In a hole in a tree, Lived a mother-bluebird

And her little bluebirds three.
Sing!" said the mother;

"We sing," said the three: So they sang and were glad, In the hole in the tree.

Over in the meadow,

In the reeds on the shore, Lived a mother-muskrat

And her little muskrats four. "Dive!" said the mother;

"We dive," said the four:

So they dived and they burrowed,
In the reeds on the shore.

Over in the meadow,
In a snug beehive,
Lived a mother-honey bee
And her little honeys five.
"Buzz!" said the mother;

We buzz," said the five:

So they buzzed and they hummed, In the snug beehive.