Glow-worms v. Snails

Abstract

YOUR correspondent, Mr. R. S. Newall, has unconsciously reversed the natural condition of affairs in his note (NATURE, vol. xx. p. 197). The heading should have been as above Glow-worms devour snails, which are their natural food. The particular snail in question had probably been attacked by the one of the glow-worms, which had left some of its phosphorescent matter adhering to it, and this occasioned the idea that it was showing through the body of the mollusk. Possibly in this case the snail may have proved too large for the glow-worm. An allied insect, Drilus flavescens, somewhat rare in this country, and not luminous, is, so far as the female is concerned, seldom found excepting inside the shells of species of Helix the animal of which it had previously devoured.