| Show What Happens When There Are April Showers of Toads Snakes and Caterpillars IT r. r I Is amusing sometimes to hear people peopled d declare that t th they y hI have c seen scon during sharp spring rin or summer shower O of minute frogs rained dannon nop ds and sidewalks alk Why they thy even go 10 so 50 far Car as os to say doubtfully say doubtfully that that they lUl saw r these frogs fros falling like drops drop of rain fain Like th those c others who say MY they know of instances where r 8 have hare b been n found enclosed cd alive and well 1 in solid rocks hundreds of years old these persons adhere to their story with a 6 fierceness that would be laudable if applied d to more mor reasonable things 4 It Is perfectly tru true e t that hat during durin spring rains swarms of or the babies ap ape appear I pear ar in open places so ro suddenly as to look lookas ns as if iC they had fallen that moment in the tho r rainstorm lion How can this and ami other showers of or livin living animals be cx explained l lor or it is hardly credible that small live animal weighing dozens o of times what lib raindrops rt do do could b be lifted up tip into clouds douds b by unseen forces and suspended 1 until dropped when the rain gain l F Even ven ren the drops drop o of wat water r cannot sk pup up there when the they are formed and they Ire are not oot lifted up Ul ItA as a leaps drops but as vapor Or We c must mUll look took for Cor t w some O rae e more reasonable explanation took look closely the next time you rou notice DOUce I a of oC frogs ODd and you will m almost l certainly discover them to be Lc not fro frogs froc but toads Frogs Frog live in or near water toads loads are arc land animals living In damp places S tut the eg eggs egg of or both boUt are hatched Ju In water orating forming tadpoles 1 which bich growa grow into tin tiny frogs fros or toads tod ns as I the case cue may mar a Il W. W Now UW these little baby buby toads toad Wd bide j 1 r r r J J away t ay in iii corners of cellars r stones stone log logs I and aud so o on on on-a. a f favorite spot pot b being in under flagstones stones When a sudden shower hower comes comesup comesup up the running nt I water pater r disturbs the animal animals ani ani- mal mals which In Jn the simplicity of oC infant infant- j hood come out of th their ir corner and Iud boles to seek eek dryer places II That t is the simple explanation of oC this marvellous shower of frost frogs ro Another C favorite kind of or shower con cone slits silts li of worms of oC various urious lorts in sorts in particular pare par r. r earthworms After titer rain fain the roads and sidewalks ore are sometimes spotted with the r red bo bodies of these useful useful use use- ful uJ creatures which have not fallen In showers from the vaults aullS of heaven Lutha but Lut ha have hal l been een n washed out of the loose toll soil by the sudden udden violent rain raiD and clio cling to th the flat Oat places 8 IS IK the water drams drains off of again They are arc seen where here sidewalks pass U a bank or elevated lawn lAn Another astonishing shower bower U Is com corn Do posed ed of ju just t the cutest little live li snakes you ever saw as we C have heard I it stated staled In Ia some cases the wrigglers are r really baby garter barter snakes which hn have c possibly all aU come from one or two mothers for Cor a garter barter snake mother may have ha as 38 many as Oi ci eighty twins born bornat at OD one ouo time Perhaps she tr was s hidden in a n hole bole under a a. tono stone somewhere near Dear b by and the rain while not oot disturbing disturbing dis djs turbin her nt at all U fri frightened the babies which Thich all ran mn out together Such Sueh a 3 show shower r is very local of course but It has b been n noted Doted that people mistake wriggling 1 larvae of or insects Injects for lor snakes when th they y are arc not Joo good observers Often a o heavy TY rain wilt will wash rn myriads of measuring worms or brown caterpillar i tars IaN or ur other squirming things out of or trees scattering th theta them n about over ocr everything everything every every- thing as 3 if thc they had literally come down from rom the black rain clouds above noon It Jt I x takes takeR a n pinch inch of common sense to ward off belief in showers of or n animals In the case of flying creatures of cour course e. e it is different Up i in th the northern border horder States opposite the great fo forests ests of Canada and the thc Maine roine or Michigan lichi an woods people are arc often oCten visited fi by a 11 tiny black tty fly which arrives in dense clouds with ith a northerly wind Th These fc Ee are arc Canada black flies and a great grent pc pest t to house owners owner Witness the case of a freshly painted hOI house hOIe e or fen fence against which i have haTe been heen blown many thousands of these 1 tiny flies not an nn uncommon experience I in Sn Buffalo April showers ers may also be composed of I i water pater plus a n mixture o of small mall moths of or gnats gnat mosquitoes grasshoppers or May flies Oi A heavy hrar rain simply drives these poor floor creatures creature who ho were enjoying the summer like sunshine to earth tarth While bile I f it is doubtless 1 os plea pleasant ant t to be a 1 lit little queer as tho the Quaker saying ins had hod It nod beliefs in ghosts ts rains raiD o of animals animal o nod d snakes with stings sting ll in their tails are diverting diverting divert divert- in ing it is i good to remember l' l that there are many simple folk who become genuinely frightened ri at such visitations illta and should I be di disenchanted of them We Wc might with equal I probability expert expect t a shower of or elephants ele tIe elephants from the thc clouds as a shower of frog frogs excepting in tornadoes or water water- tel I spouts Cases have occurred at sea ra or on lakes labs I where ships h have hc c had during the passing of a waterspout near nar h by a literal rain of oC tiny fi fishes ht or more disagreeably of small jellyfishes lint Hut these ore are only drawn up upa n a very ery few cn yards by the violence nee of the twisting centre of such uch a whirling wind Tornadoes Ind indeed ll have W Wen been D known to tot I lift men hors and Qt oven even n houth bouws ei into the I air yet et that U iv nn n example of or furious wind motion utterly foreign to a n summer shower bower I F.-I |
