The Glow-Worm 



least to the greatest in the zoological pro- 

 gression, the stomach sways the world; the 

 data supplied by food are the chief of all the 

 documents of life. Well, in spite of his in- 

 nocent appearance, the Lampyris is an eater 

 of flesh, a hunter of game; and he follows his 

 calling with rare villainy. His regular prey 

 is the Snail. 



This detail has long been known to en- 

 tomologists. What is not so well-known, 

 what is not known at all yet, to judge by what 

 I have read, is the curious method of attack, 

 of which I have seen no other instance any- 

 where. 



Before he begins to feast, the Glow-worm 

 administers an anaesthetic: he chloroforms 

 his victim, rivalling in the process the won- 

 ders of our modern surgery, which renders 

 the patient insensible before operating on 

 him. The usual game is a small Snail 

 hardly the size of a cherry, such as, for in- 

 stance, Helix variabilis, DRAP., who, in the 

 hot weather, collects in clusters on the stiff 

 stubble and on other long, dry stalks, by the 

 roadside, and there remains motionless, in 

 profound meditation, throughout the scorch- 

 ing summer days. It is in some such resting- 

 place as this that I have often been privileged 

 to light upon the Lampyris banqueting on the 



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