THE GLOW-WORM 39 



worm are, first, the way he secures his food, and secondly, 

 the lantern at his tail. 



A famous Frenchman, a master of the science of food, once 

 said : 



' Show me what you eat, and I will tell you what 

 you are. 5 



A similar question should be addressed to every insect 

 whose habits we propose to study ; for the information 

 supplied by food is the chief of all the documents of animal 

 life. Well, in spite of his innocent appearance, the Glow- 

 worm is an eater of flesh, a hunter of game ; and he carries 

 on his hunting with rare villainy. His regular prey is the 

 Snail. This fact has long been known ; but what is not so 

 well known is his curious method of attack, of which I have 

 seen no other example anywhere. 



Before he begins to feed on his victim he gives it an 

 anaesthetic he makes it unconscious, as a person is made 

 unconscious with chloroform before a surgical operation. His 

 food, as a rule, is a certain small Snail hardly the size of a 

 cherry, which collects in clusters during the hot weather, on 

 the stiff stubble and other dry stalks by the roadside, 

 and there remains motionless, in profound meditation, 

 throughout the scorching summer days. In some such place 

 as this I have often seen the Glow-worm feasting on his 

 unconscious prey, which he had just paralysed on its shaky 

 support. 



But he frequents other places too. At the edge of cool, 

 damp ditches, where the vegetation is varied, many Snails 

 are to be found ; and in such spots as these the Glow-worm 

 can kill his victim on the ground. I can reproduce these 

 conditions at home, and can there follow the operator's per- 

 formance down to the smallest detail. 



I will try to describe the strange sight. I place a little 

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

 and a supply of Snails of a suitable size, neither too large nor 

 too small. One must be patient and wait, and above all 



