BEHAVIOR OF THE ANT-LION. 2Q9 



held out at right-angles without the leg bending in the least. 

 That is not the case with the ant-lion. When an attempt is 

 made to lift it, in that manner, by a tarsus, the leg bends and the 

 insect awakes from its feint. 



When an ant-lion is recovering from a feint, usually, although 

 not always, there is a preliminary waving of the antennae and a 

 twitching of the legs and, sometimes, a movement of the head. 

 Then the larva suddenly turns over. Throughout the whole 

 series of experiments, a careful record was kept as to whether the 

 insect turned towards the right or towards the left; towards the 

 light or away from it. It was found that whether the insect 

 turned toward the right or toward the left depended upon the 

 location of the strongest light; for the ant-lion invariably turns 

 away from the light. 



Pinching the legs of a letisimulating individual almost always 

 caused it to come out of its feint. Blowing upon a death-feigning 

 larva would sometimes bring no response; at others it would 

 induce a twitching of the legs; at yet others it would cause a 

 complete recovery. Since the pinching of a leg, and even attempts 

 to lift the letisimulating ant-lion by a leg, usually terminates 

 the feint, I was surprised at the results produced by the following 

 mutilations. 



Experiment I. With a pair of small, but sharp, dissecting scissors, 

 I cut off the tip of a fore-leg of a letisimulating ant-lion. The insect 

 did not respond. 



Experiment 2. With a pair of small, but sharp, dissecting scis- 

 sors, I clipped off the tip of a mandible of a letisimulating ant-lion. 

 The insect did not respond. 



Experiment j. With a pair of small, but sharp, dissecting 

 scissors, in rapid succession, I cut off the tips of both fore-legs and 

 of a mandible of a letisimulating ant-lion. The insect did not 

 respond. 



Experiment 4. With a pair of small, but sharp, scissors I 

 severed the head from the body of a letisimulating ant-lion. The 

 insect did not respond, nor did it recover from the operation. 



Experiment 5. A pair of small dissecting scissors, identical with 

 those with which the above experiments were performed, was heated 

 red hot, in a Bunsen flame, and allowed to cool. This softened the 



