OF THE GLOWWORM (LAMPYRI9 NOCTILUCa). 53 



Naturelles,' June 1826, vol. viii. p. 296 ; and the same is also re- 

 ferred to by a writer in the ' Penny Cyclopaedia,' in which are given 

 some additional accounts of the voracity of the creature and its 

 mode of feeding. 



I am not aware, however, that any one has made observations 

 similar to some which have been reported to me in a letter dated 

 August 23, 1840, by my friend Professor Ellis.' The writer in the 

 ' Penny Cyclopaedia ' states that he kept the larvae alive for a long 

 time, and that they subsisted upon snails : " Attacking those of the 

 largest sort sometimes, they would seize a snail whilst crawling, 

 and when the snail retired within its shell they would still keep 

 their hold, and allow themselves to be carried into the shell with 

 the snail; and although they became enveloped with mucous 

 secretion, it very seldom appeared to adhere to their bodies." 

 Mr. Ellis wished to observe the proceedings here described of the 

 larva being carried into the shell by the snail, and therefore fur- 

 nished snails to some larvae that he had in confinement. He was 

 not able to verify the statements made by the writer referred to. 

 On the contrary, he says : " Instead of witnessing that effect, I 

 was astonished to'find that the manner of destroying the snail was 

 by a series of sudden bites, repeated at intervals ; and I was more- 

 over struck with the fact that the snail seemed in extreme agony 

 after the first bite. I therefore made a number of experiments 

 with snails, and the following are the results : — 



" Exp. 1. — A rather large snail was bitten ; it retracted after the 

 wound of the glowworm into its shell, and had afterwards a partial 

 paralysis (if I may so speak), inasmuch as it could not right its 

 shell when crawling. 



" Exp. 2. — Another, bitten in the horn, was not able, or did not 

 protrude it fully for as much as a quarter of an hour afterwards ; 

 and put out only one (the opposite) for some time. 



"Exp. 3. — Some smaller snails, bitten once by a large larva, 

 never emerged from their shells afterwards, and it is now eight 

 hours since, while one or two seemed to be dead. 



" Perhaps you may think these effects are due to mechanical 

 injury. I kept this also in view, and pierced some of the snails 

 when crawling through and through with a needle, and fastened 

 them thus to the table ; but although they retracted into their shells 

 as much as possible for the time, they came out again directly 

 afterwards, and were to all appearance as well and active as ever 

 — even those that had been impaled three or four times. These 

 effects cannot be simply those arising from mechanical injury, 



