Death Spiral

I walked out on our flagstones this morning [5 Oct 2020] and saw a slug ‘walking’ in circles. Certain this was another sign of the End Times, I wandered about aimlessly until the term ‘Death Spiral’ popped into my head. Sure enough, when I went back the slug had indeed passed to the Other Side. Looking up ‘Death Spiral’, the first description regards planes plummeting from the sky – though I did find a reference to an ‘Ant Mill’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_mill) wherein confused army ants will walk in circles until dying of starvation.

I am guessing, however, that even before the invention of the aeroplane, naturalists and gardeners had already witnessed this spiral dance macabre... perhaps this is the original definition?

John Eastman, Santa Cruz, California