Marvels of the Universe 



261 



Photo bfj 



THE \^ORM-EATI\G SLUG IN A RESTING STATE. 



IE. .Steji, I'.L.S. 



THE WORM-EATING SLUG 



BY EDW.IRD STEP, F.L.S. 



To the average gardener, amateur or professional, the statement that all slugs are not his enemies 

 \vill be received as rank heresy. But it is a fact which even he would be compelled to accept if he 

 were a little more obser\'ant and less inclined to treat all creeping things as specially designed to 

 thwart his efforts. The slug to which special reference is now to be made is one that few people 

 who are not naturahsts have ever seen. It passes the greater part of its life underground, only 

 coming to the surface when its underground runs are flooded, or on moist nights when its special 

 prey, the earthworm, is also out for an airing. 



The Worm-eating Slug is purely carnivorous, and would, figuratively speaking, turn up its 

 nose at the choicest bed of seedlings that were ever grown. In nearly all respects it differs from the 

 well-known ordinary slugs. The latter, it will be remembered, are thickest at a little distance 



Fhoio bu} [E. fili-ji, F.L.S. 



THE WORM-EATING SLUG EXTENDED. 



In this condition the Slug enters the burrows of the earthworm and eats the worme. A hard shell on the tail end protects 

 this Slug from a similar attack from one ot its own kind that may follow it down the same burrow. 



