78 



ANIMALS OF LAND AND SEA 



insects. There is a curious bug in Java which feeds on ants. 

 When an ant approaches it rises up, exposing some long hairs 

 on the under side which are wet with a secretion from some 

 special glands. The ant greedily Hcks off this substance which, 



however, is intoxicating. 

 When the ant has had 

 enough to make it 

 "groggy" the bug with 

 its sharp beak stabs it 

 suddenly through the 

 neck and sucks its juices 

 out. 



Very many insects if 

 shut up together with- 

 out food will eat each 

 other, like many cater- 

 pillars, grasshoppers and 

 crickets. Others most 

 willingly do this merely 

 if they get the chance, 

 like the young of lace- 

 winged flies and of some 

 butterflies. For still 

 others cannibalism 

 forms a part of their 

 regular routine exist- 

 ence, and they contem- 

 plate their relatives 

 with the same lack of 

 sentiment that we do 

 buns or mufhns. 



Their own brothers 

 and sisters form the regular nourishment of many spiders in 

 their early stages. The female spider lays a quantity of eggs 

 within a silken ball. When these eggs hatch a sanguinary 

 riot starts within this ball and the little spiders eat each other 



Figs. 71, 72. A pair of African Swallow-tails. 

 For explanations of the figures see p. xiii. 



