h any
frequency. Of one thing I was sure, toads do not always have an
unpleasant taste.

A year later I had a class down by the side of a neighboring pond. The
pool was not an attractive one, and I had picked from it a more than
commonly unappetizing looking toad, which proved to be a mother which
had not yet laid her eggs. As I held her in my hands and exhibited her
various points to my pupils, I told them of Prof. Cope's statement. I
also told them of my unsuccessful attempt the previous year to verify
the statement. I added, however, that I would not repeat this
experiment on this unappetizing specimen. Hereupon the toad not only
exuded, but squirted, from a gland over her left shoulder blade a
fluid, milky-like in appearance, and forming a jet as thin as a
needle, but ejected with force enough to strike my face, which was at
least fifteen inches away. I moistened my finger on my tongue, lifted
the fluid from my cheek, and tasted it. Cope was right. A toad can
exude a most nauseous fluid. Horsechestnuts extracted and distilled
might possibly provide something as bitter. Why did I not find this in
the preceding case? I have too few observations on which to base a
conclusion, but I have a suspicion as to the reason. In the case of
the toad which spurted the fluid in my face, we had a creature with
whose life were tied up the lives of her many offspring, to be
produced from the eggs she was so soon to lay. Under conditions like
these, nature is more than commonly careful of her children. Whether
this be the reason or not, toads do not always have an unpleasant
taste, but when they do it certainly is most unpleasant.

There remains to be considered the most effective plan yet mentioned
of escaping the enemy, and that is of really escaping. In all the
devices we have considered thus far the enemy is eluded. When the
creature lies quiet, or finds safety in its protective coloration, or
in its bad taste, or unpleasant odor, it still remains in the presence
of the enemy. A more progressive plan altogether is to escape the
enemy by flight. The great advantage of this plan lies in the fact
that the acquisition is valuable for every purpose. The creature then
can escape the enemy, can range widely for food or for a mate. This
gives it an enormous advantage in the struggle for life. The power to
fly, in insects, was doubtless originally gained in the attempt to
escape the enemy. Among many of the lower animals it is nearly the