76 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



tanned, would make imperishable fingers for gloves. The 

 latter idea has never yet been carried out, owing to the 

 impossibility of finding any material of equal durability and 

 toughness for the other portions of the glove. 



All efforts to tame or educate the slug have been vain. 

 It has, indeed, been used by showmen at fairs to spell 

 out names from letters scattered at random on the stage ; 

 but it is well-known that the creatures were directed to 

 the desired letters by small pieces of cabbage-leaf fastened 

 beneath them. The exhibition was abandoned, owing 

 to the slowness of movement of the creatures, as they 

 took no fewer than four hours to spell out a word of 

 five letters, and audiences grew tired before the conclusion 

 of the performance, and did not stay to obtain the full value 

 of the penny paid at the door. But although, so far, 

 the slug has failed to afford either profit or gratification 

 to man, its existence cannot be termed a failure, for 

 there can be no doubt that, although unprovided with 

 visible eyes, feet, or other organs, the slug manages to 

 enjoy itself vastly. It has a keen scent, and a most dis- 

 criminating appetite; its food is abundant, and costs it 

 nothing. Although it can eat and enjoy cabbage leaves, it 

 has higher tastes. For young melons and cucumber plants 

 it has the keenest relish, seedlings of all sorts it loves, and the 

 more rare and valuable the better it likes them. The slug is, 

 in fact, a gourmand, and it is the delicacy of its palate which 

 proves its ruin. Did it content itself with the abundant 

 cabbage or the full-si/ed lettuce, men would not grudge it 

 its share, and none would trouble to hunt it with lantern 

 and traps ; but it is its fastidiousness of appetite, its craving 

 for the young and the rare, its weakness for the quarter 



