I found this interview with Brust where he discusses the tsalmoth (though not in any useful fashion): "If I were to say, for example, that a tsalmoth is a six-foot-diameter snail that hunts its prey by climbing into trees over the course of months and months and then pounces, well, then if I decide later that I want it to be something else, I'm kind of stuck. So I need to give myself some room and not think too much until I have a chance to actually explore." - http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue224/interview.html Bryan