48 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE, 



V. 



SLUGS AND SNAILS. 



HOEING among the flower-beds on my lawn 

 this morning for I am a bit of a gardener 

 in my way I have had the ill-luck to maim 

 a poor yellow slug, who had hidden himself 

 among the encroaching grass on the edge of 

 my little parterre of sky-blue lobelias. This 

 unavoidable wounding and hacking of worms 

 and insects, despite all one's care, is no small 

 drawback to the pleasures of gardening in 

 proprid persona. Vivisection for genuine 

 scientific purposes in responsible hands, one 

 can understand and tolerate, even though 

 lacking the heart for it oneself ; but the use- 

 less and causeless vivisection which cannot 

 be prevented in every ordinary piece of farm- 



