The Ant-Lions 



of cliffs along sandy banks in the warm sunshine may be found 

 to contain numbers of these pits. Large collections of them will 

 frequently be found together, which means that one or more 

 females have deposited their eggs in the same general vicinity. 

 The sand must be dry, and hence usually is in a warm, sunny 

 place. When it is damp the larva cannot dig a good pit. 



Professor O. Lugger, at a recent meeting of the Entomological 

 Society of Washington, told an interesting story of how a load 

 of sand being carted across a western prairie, far from any 

 stream and miles from any other accumulation of sand, was 

 accidentally spilled through the breaking down of the cart, and 

 how, after a comparatively short time, he found this sand con- 

 taining many ant-lion pits. This instance indicates that the 

 strong-flying adults are widely distributed and must be in the 

 habit of flying long distances in search of proper places to lay 

 their eggs. There is, of course, also a bare possibility that the 

 eggs were already contained in the sand. 



The jaws are enormous and are toothed, and each jaw is 

 grooved deeply on the under side. 



After the victim is practically consumed the remains are 

 jerked away by the head just as the sand is jerked up in 

 excavation. 



The duration of the life of the ant-lion larva is variable, 

 depending largely upon the abundance of food, just as with 

 some of the other predatory larvae which we have recently men- 

 tioned. They are able to undergo long fasts, in which event the 

 transformation may become indefinitely postponed, but when 

 ants and other food are plentiful they reach full growth in com- 

 paratively short time, and spin circular cocoons in the sand, 

 making them of silk, to which, since it is gummy when spun, 

 grains of sand adhere. Within the cocoon the larva usually 

 passes the winter. 



There is need of careful study of any one of our common 

 ant-lions. The eggs should be described; the number of molts 

 of the larva should be known, and the duration of the different 

 stages under differing circumstances should be determined. It is 

 probable that with most, if not all of the species, there is one 

 generation annually. 



320 



