t own they were given as a _bonne bouche_ to my Virginian
nightingale, who seemed highly to approve of this addition to his daily
fare. Snails' eggs are nearly white and semi-transparent; the empty
shells of young snails are very lovely when placed in a good microscope:
the polariscope bringing out their exquisite prismatic tints.

The gardener one day brought in a testacella, or shelled slug. It fed
upon earth-worms and was quite unlike the ordinary black or grey slug,
of which we have, alas! countless thousands preying upon all the green
things of the earth. This shelled slug was yellow, and seemed able to
elongate its body very differently to any other species. The shell was
quite small, a simple dome-shaped plate upon the anterior part of the
body. I kept it for some weeks on damp moss under a tumbler, but it was
often able to escape by flattening itself to a mere thread and then
crawling under the rim of the tumbler, and at last I gave it liberty as
a reward for its persevering efforts to obtain its freedom.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

AN EARWIG MOTHER.

I had often read of the earwig as an incubating insect, and much wished
to see for myself how she carried out her motherly instincts. One bright
May morning found me busily turning over stones, clinkers, and old
tree-roots in a fernery, which, having been long undisturbed, seemed a
likely spot for the nest I wished to find. There seemed no scarcity of
worms, wood-lice, centipedes, or beetles, but no earwigs could I see;
and I was just about to give up the search when, lifting a piece of
stone, I saw a small cavity, about as large as would contain a pea, and
in it lay about twenty-six round, white eggs, hard-shelled and shining,
of the size of a small pin's head. An earwig had placed herself over the
eggs, and I was delighted to think at last I had lighted upon the insect
mother I had been searching for. But what was to be done with her? How
could I watch the process of incubation? The difficulty was solved by
lifting the nest and its mother with a trowel and placing it in a saucer
under a tumbler, without any displacement of the eggs; thus the mother's
care could be conveniently watched. The earwig first carefully examined
her new home, touching each morsel of earth and stone with her antennae;
and, having ascertained the exact condition of things, she set to work
to make a fresh nest, labouring with great industry until it was formed
to her mind.