Tequila Worm

As far as we're concerned, this is cruel and unusual punishment in a tequila bottle. It seems - at least according to Green Peyton's San Antonio: City in the Sun of 1946 - the tradition of swallowing the small caterpillar or larva started as a substitute for the salt taken with a shot of mescal. The worm wasn't swallowed whole; rather it was crushed and sucked from the back of the hand before or after the shot.

Originally, these worms came from the maguey plant, but nowadays, they're probably just worms found near the bottling plants.