THE GLOW-WORM 41 



are creeping along the ground, the foot slowly crawling, 

 the tentacles swollen to their full extent. A few disordered 

 movements betray a brief excitement on the part of the 

 Snail, and then everything ceases : the foot no longer crawls, 

 the front part loses its graceful curve, the tentacles become 

 limp and give way under their own weight, dangling feebly 

 like a broken stick. The Snail, to all appearance, is dead. 



He is not, however, really dead. I can bring him to life 

 again. When he has been for two or three days in a condi- 

 tion that is neither life nor death I give him a shower-bath. 

 In about a couple of days my prisoner, so lately injured by 

 the Glow-worm's treachery, is restored to his usual state. 

 He revives, he recovers movement and sensibility. He is 

 affected by the touch of a needle ; he shifts his place, crawls, 

 puts out his tentacles, as though nothing unusual had occurred. 

 The general torpor, a sort of deep drunkenness, has vanished 

 outright. The dead returns to life. 



Human science did not invent the art of making a person 

 insensible to pain, which is one of the triumphs of surgery. 

 Far back in the centuries the Glow-worm, and apparently 

 others too, was practising it. The surgeon makes us breathe 

 the fumes of ether or chloroform : the insect darts forth from 

 his fangs very tiny doses of a special poison. 



When we consider the harmless and peaceful nature of 

 the Snail it seems curious that the Glow-worm should require 

 this remarkable talent. But I think I know the reason. 



When the Snail is on the ground, creeping, or even shrunk 

 into his shell, the attack never presents any difficulty. The 

 shell possesses no lid and leaves the hermit's fore-part to a 

 great extent exposed. But it very often happens that he 

 is in a raised position, clinging to the tip of a grass-stalk, or 

 perhaps to the smooth surface of a stone. This support to 

 which he fastens himself serves very well as a protection ; 

 it acts as a lid, supposing that the shell fits closely on the 

 stone or stalk. But if the least bit of the Snail be left un- 

 covered the slender hooks of the Glow-worm can find their 



