42 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



way in through the gap, and in a moment the victim is made 

 unconscious, and can be eaten in comfort. 



Now, a Snail perched on top of a stalk is very easily upset. 

 The slightest struggle, the most feeble wriggle on his part, 

 would dislodge him ; he would fall to the ground, and the 

 Glow-worm would be left without food. It is necessary for 

 the Snail to be made instantly unconscious of pain, or he 

 would escape ; and it must be done with a touch so delicate 

 that it does not shake him from his stalk. And that, I think, 

 is why the Glow-worm possesses his strange surgical instru- 

 ment. 



II 



His ROSETTE 



The Glow-worm not only makes his victim insensible 

 while he is poised on the side of a dry grass-stalk, but he eats 

 him in the same dangerous position. And his preparations 

 for his meal are by no means simple. 



What is his manner of consuming it ? Does he really 

 eat, that is to say, does he divide his food into pieces, does 

 he carve it into minute particles, which are afterwards ground 

 by a chewing-apparatus ? I think not. I never see a trace 

 of solid nourishment on my captives' mouths. The Glow- 

 worm does not eat in the strict sense of the word ; he merely 

 drinks. He feeds on a thin gruel, into which he transforms 

 his prey. Like the flesh-eating grub of the Fly, he can digest 

 his food before he swallows it ; he turns his prey into liquid 

 before feeding on it. 



This is how things happen. A Snail has been made in- 

 sensible by a Glow-worm, who is nearly always alone, even 

 when the prize is a large one like the Common Snail. Soon 

 a number of guests hasten up two, three, or more and, 

 without any quarrel with the real owner, all alike fall to. 

 A couple of days later, if I turn the shell so that the opening 

 is downwards, the contents flow out like soup from a sauce- 



