INSECT LIFE IN INDIA AND HOW TO STUDY IT. 



38; 



a. 



life -history and a biting one in the adult. This is unusual and 

 the reverse of what occurs in the Lepidoptera and other big Orders. 

 The pupa has the general form of the imago, and is enclosed in 

 a cocoon. These insects live on land in all the stages of tLeir 

 existence. 



In the Myrmeleonides (ant-lions) the antennae are short, clubbed and 

 the apical space of the long wings contains regular oblong cellules in 

 it. Fig. 31a, shows an adult of Palpares sp. a common Bengal ant- 

 lion. These insects are 

 interesting owing to the 

 fact that the remarkable 

 habits of the larva? have 

 been known to naturalists 

 for over two centuries. 

 The larva (shown in Fig. 

 316) is predacious and 

 secures its prey by con- 

 structing traps. For this 

 purpose some sandy spot is 

 chosen, and a funnel-shaped 

 pit hollowed out with the 

 sides as steep as possible. 

 The larva buries itself at ^ ' 



the bottom of this, leaving „ '..,,', 



° FlQ. 31. — A common Indian Ant-lion Patpnreg sp. 



only its elongate jaws pro- (Bengal); b, larva Ant-lion enlarged 



jecting out of the sand at twice. 



the bottom of the pit. The latter being constructed in dry loose sand, 

 an insect running along the ground and reaching the edge slips on the 

 moving sand and falls into the pit, to be impaled on the sharp man- 

 dibles of the larva, who then sucks out its body contents. Even should 

 the insect not be impaled upon the mandibles, the ant-lion larva will 

 secure it before it has managed to escape up the shelving slipping sides 

 of the pit. These insects are common in many parts of India, more 

 especially in dry, sandy riverbeds, etc. 



An ant lion Micromus australis is said by Nietner to attack the 

 coffee louse (Aphis cofece) in Cejlon. 



The Chrysopides ( lace-wing flies ) are fragile insects with elongate 

 bristle-like antennae. They have metallic red-coloured eyes, by which 



