286 



C. H. TURNER. 



happens to fall into the pit, remaining at its post, the ant-lion 

 elevates its head and makes repeated snaps at the creature as 

 long as it remains near. It may be that the ocelli located at the 

 base of the mandibles, on the dorsal side of the head, aid in this. 

 The name ant-lion is a misnomer; for it creates the impression 

 that this insect feeds exclusively, or almost exclusively, upon ants. 

 Such is not the case. Any small creeping invertebrate be it 

 insect, crustacean, or arachnid is acceptable. Several of the most 

 flourishing colonies of ant-lions found near St. Louis are located in 

 the dirt floor of a dilapidated stone-crusher of an abandoned quarry. 

 The diet of the inmates of those pits is composed largely of sow- 

 bugs (Porcellio). Emerton (6) and MacLachlan (i i) fed their ant- 

 lions on living flies that had been disabled; Berce (i) reared his 

 on living flies, wood-lice and earwigs. I supplied mine with 



Fig. 5 



FIG. 5. Chrysalis of ant-lion that died on way to surface. 



living specimens of the following invertebrates; caterpillars (even 

 hairy ones), wood-lice, small roaches, small moths (held by the 

 wings until the ant-lion had secured a hold), spiders, nymphal 

 squash bugs, ants, small beetle larvae, soft-bodied beetles, and 

 bed-bugs. All of these were accepted and, after the juice had 

 been sucked from each body, the dried remains were cast out of 

 the pit. 



The ant-lion has no mouth opening in the true sense of the 

 word. The strong curved mandibles are perforated at the tip, 





