234 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Myrnieleon sp. 



The Ant Lion. 



(Ord. Neuroptera : Fam. Mvrmeleonid^.) 



An example of the larva of an ant-lion was received from a cor- 

 respondent at Falls Church, Va., accompanied with comments on its 

 habit of moving backwards and an inquiry of the name of the creature. 

 As it could not be carried to its final winged stage, its scientific name 

 could not be determined, but it probably belonged to the genus Myrnie- 

 leon of Linnaeus. It differed in its greater hairiness and other features, 

 from the forms that we are accustomed to see in this vicinity among the 

 Helderberg mountains. 



Number of Species. 



The species are rather numerous, Dr. Hagen, in his Synopsis of the 

 Neuroptera, published over thirty years ago, recorded twenty-four United 

 States species. Very little has since been added to 

 our knowledge of them. For a number of years prior 

 to his death Dr. Hagen had been engaged in collect- 

 ing the material for an extended publication upon the 

 group, but so far as known to me he has only published 

 a Memoir on the Ascalaphid larvje,* and a series of 

 articles in the Canadian Entomologist, vols. 19 and 

 20, entitled, " Stray Notes on MyrmeleonidEe." In 

 the latter, description of seven new United States 

 species are contained and one nev/ genus is charac- 



FiG. 17. — An ant-lion ; . • i • r^ • /-. 7 j 



mandible more en- terized. Mr. Banks, m his Synopsis, Catalogue ana 



larged at c. (Origi- 



nai.) Bibliography of the Neuropteroid Insects of Temperate 



North America,^ has listed thirty-four species belonging to the Myr- 

 meleonidx. 



Appearance and Habits of Myrmeleon. 



It is not strange that the insect excited the curiosity of the sender, for 

 it is one of the most interesting objects of the varied insect tribe. Its 

 name indicates its strength, its ravenous nature, and its chief food. The 

 larva feeds only on living ants and other small insects. It is exceed- 

 ingly unprepossessing in appearance, with its humped body covered with 

 bristles, and its head armed with a pair of formidable curved man- 

 dibles, projecting far in front of its head as shown in Fig. 17. Its 



* In Stettiner Entomologiscke Zeitung^ Jahrg. 34, 1873, 33. 

 + In Trans. Atner. Entotitol. Soc.y xix, 1892, pp. 327-373. 



