236 



NEW YORK STATE IMUSEUM 



mandibles are forced into the body of its prey and the fluids sucked up 

 along their grooves — the slender maxillae playing back and forth and 

 probably aiding in the operation. After its juices are sucked out, the 

 empty carcass is placed on the shovel head, and thrown out as far as 

 possible from the pitfall. The damage to the pit occasioned by the 

 capture and the struggle is then repaired, and the ant-lion resumes its 

 position and patiently awaits the advent of the next victim. 



Transformations. 



^Vhen the ant-lion has fully matured, it spins itself up in a ball of sand 

 for its pupation — shown at figure 19. In emerging from the cocoon, the 

 thin, transparent pupal case is left projecting from it (see 

 figure). In its perfect state, it is a beautiful and graceful 

 creature, with a slender body and long, narrow, finely reticu- 

 lated wings. They are very rarely met with, probably be- 

 cause their delicate forms fail to arrest attention, or perhaps, 

 coon^^of aiu- as Stated by some writer, from their flying mostly at night, 



lion. (After „, , -i i n i i i • 



Emmons.) The larvae can easily be collected in numbers, by gomg 

 quietly to localities where they occur, and with a piece of bent paper, 



scooping up the pitfall 

 with its builder at the 

 bottom. The collector, 

 however, must be adroit, 

 for at his first glance 

 into the pitfall he will 

 notice a shde of sand 

 at the bottom, betoken- 

 T^u , ,• ,^ ing the attempted re- 



FiG. 20. — The spotless ant-lion Myrmeleox immacui.atus. ° ^ 



(After Emerton.) treat of the watchful 



insect from apprehended danger, and its possible escape from capture. 



Life-History. 



The life-histories of the ant-lions (the American species at least), 

 appear not to have been worked out. It seems not to be definitely 

 known whether one or two years are required for attaining their winged 

 stages. Certain it is that their development is very unequal, for their 

 pitfalls of nearly the smallest size and of the largest are often found 

 grouped together under the same overhanging rock. In this uncertainty, 

 some scattered notes of observations of the larvae and the imago may aid 



