The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



prey which he had just paralyzed on its 

 shaky support by his surgical artifices. 



But he is familiar with other preserves. 

 He frequents the edges of the irrigating- 

 ditches, with their cool soil, their varied 

 vegetation, a favourite haunt of the mol- 

 lusc. Here, he treats the game on the 

 ground; and, under these conditions, it is 

 easy for me to rear him at home and to fol- 

 low the operator's performance down to the 

 smallest detail. 



I will try to make the reader a witness of 

 the strange sight. I place a little grass in a 

 wide glass jar. In this I install a few Glow- 

 worms and a provision of Snails of a suit- 

 able size, neither too large nor too small, 

 chiefly Helix variabilis. We must be pa- 

 tient and wait. Above all, we must keep 

 an assiduous watch, for the desired events 

 come unexpectedly and do not last long. 



Here we are at last. The Glow-worm 

 for a moment invesigates the prey, which, 

 according to its habit, is wholly withdrawn 

 in the shell, except the edge of the mantle, 

 which projects slightly. Then the hunter's 

 weapon is drawn, a very simple weapon, but 

 one that cannot be plainly perceived with- 

 out the aid of a lens. It consists of two 

 mandibles bent back powerfully into a hook, 

 4 



