Clje dlanabiati €ntomolopt. 



VOL. XVI. LONDON, ONT., JULY, 1884. No. 7 



NOTES ON ANT LIONS. 



BY J. ALSTON MOFFAT, HAMILTON, ONT. 



One day on my late visit to Ridgeway, a party of four went on an 

 entomological excursion by boat to a place about four miles west, called 

 Point Abino. After taking a survey of the situation and lightening our 

 lunch basket, we went to work. Each had his specialty ; one desired 

 beetles, another butterflies. Seeing Myrmelion on the wing, I turned my 

 attention to the Ant Lions. I did not succeed in securing many of them, 

 for although the funnel-shaped pits of the nymphs were in surprising num- 

 bers, very few of the mature insects were to be seen, it being probably a 

 little too early for them. I captured but four specimens, one obsoletus, 

 and three of what was kindly determined for me by Dr. Hagen, of Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., as Myrmelion abdombialis Say, whose figured-gauze wings 

 are charming objects seen through a lens. The slight acquaintance I have 

 with them has been acquired during my visits to Ridgeway, none of them 

 having ever been seen about Hamilton so far as I know. Mr. J. Pettit 

 secured an obsoletus while he was collecting at Grimsby, but I think he 

 never got a second, although no doubt they were there to some extent, 

 but probably very scarce. Fine loose sand is evidently a necessity of 

 their existence in any locality, and I would suppose comparative seclusion; 

 both of these they have in perfection at Point Abino. I saw large patches 

 of sand so loose that weeds could not take root upon it, and which had 

 not been disturbed by the foot of man or beast probably for weeks, and 

 some of these places were so occupied with their pits that it did not seem 

 possible to get another one in without interfering with those already there. 

 These pits were about three inches across the top, and two or two and a 

 half deep. Their width must be in exact proportion to their depth, for 

 the slope of the sides is just what will support the particles of loose sand. 

 They must have their pits to make frequently during their larval existence, 

 for every heavy shower will fill them all up. They never expose them- 

 selves to view except by accident, but lie just immediately under the 



