Delicious crocus

As my newly-planted-last-fall crocus start to bloom (the years-old ones in the lawn have pretty much pooped out, as I got tired of leaving their foliage uncut until it withered) I've been looking pretty closely at each new bloom.

There's nothing too exciting about them, whites and yellows and purples, but I happened to notice one of the yellow ones moving in a strange way yesterday morning.

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Upon closer inspection, a slug was feasting upon the canary petals. My first thought was not "die slug die!", but "I need to get the camera!"

So I did.

Pardon me, but your pneumostome is showing:

I tried to capture a sequence that showed sluggo taking a bite, but it didn't seem to happen that way.

At first it looked like it was going to wrap its mouth around the petal, as a little bit of its "lip" started moving down:

But then it seemed like the petal was just gone, as if it were chewed through from below.

There must be some hard, sharp edges somewhere in that mouth, but all I can see is gums. I don't know how they manage to munch so much crunchy plant matter. (Try to repeat that phrase a few times quickly!)

As soon as I finished taking photos this mollusk took a flight into the center of the yard, flung by this gardener's hand far from the remaining blooms. Oh, I know he'll be back eventually, but I don't want to make things too easy for him.

So like I said, there's nothing too special about my crocus -- unless you're a slug!

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