The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



very similar to that of the Glow-worm. 

 Like our own Snail-eater, the Algerian in- 

 sect does not cut its victim into small pieces : 

 it renders it inert, chloroforms it by means 

 of a few tweaks which are easily distributed, 

 if the lid but half-opens for a second. That 

 will do. The besieger thereupon enters and, 

 in perfect quiet, consumes a prey incapable 

 of the least muscular effort. That is how 

 I see things by the unaided light of logic. 



Let us now return to the Glow-worm. 

 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. Here, on the edges 

 of the mantle contracted by the fear of 

 danger, the mollusc is vulnerable and in- 

 capable of defence. But it also frequently 

 happens that the Snail occupies a raised posi- 

 tion, clinging to the tip of a grass-stalk or 

 perhaps to the smooth surface of a stone. 

 This support serves him as a temporary lid; 

 it wards off the aggression of any churl who 

 might try to molest the inhabitant of the 

 cabin, always on the express condition that 

 no slit show itself anywhere on the protecting 

 circumference. If, on the other hand, in the 

 frequent case when the shell does not fit its 



