BEHAVIOR OF THE ANT-LION 2Q7 



square. The ant-lion was placed at various places near the peri- 

 phery of the plate. Unless the ant-lion was placed in such a 

 position that in going directly away from the light it would en- 

 counter the dirt, never once did an ant-lion discover it. Some- 

 times the larva passed within less than a centimeter of the dirt 

 without being attracted by it. 



LETISIMULATION. 



Letisimulation (from letum, death, and simulare, to feign) is a 

 term coined by Weir 1 in 1899, to designate the death-like attitude 

 assumed by individuals of many different groups of the animal 

 kingdom, when roughly handled. While citing examples from 

 among the worms, insects, reptiles, birds, and certain mammals, 

 he leaves the impression that the most remarkable examples of 

 death-feigning are to be found among the reptiles and certain 

 mammals. Since that time much careful attention has been 

 given to the letisimulation of insects. Barret (22) has studied 

 it in the mole-cricket; Gee and Lathrop (26), and Johnson and 

 Girault (32), in the plum curculio; Girault (27), in trox; Holmes 

 (30), in the water scorpions; Newell (34) and Weiss (40), in the 

 rice weevil; Riley (36), in dragon-fly nymphs; the Severins (37), 

 in the giant water bugs, and Wodsedalek (41, 42), in May-fly 

 nymphs and in a dermestid larva. In the light of the remarkable 

 traits revealed by these investigators, were he writing his article 

 today, Weir, no doubt, would agree with Homes that "it is among 

 the insects that the death-feigning instinct reaches its highest 

 development, occurring in a greater or less extent, in most of the 

 orders. It is especially common in beetles and not unusual among 

 bugs, but it is quite rare in the highest orders such as the Diptera, 

 or flies, and the Hymenoptera, or ants, bees and their allies. It 

 occurs in a few cases among the butterflies and moths, both in 

 the imago as well as the larval state. The instinct is exhibited 

 in different species in all stages of development from a momentary 

 feint to the condition of intense vigor lasting for over an hour. 

 Some insects may be severely mutilated, or, according to De 

 Geer, even roasted over a fire before they cease feigning." 



Although the activities of ant-lions have interested many 



1 Weir, "Dawn of Reason," pp. 202-214. 



