CHAPTER II. 



MYRMELEONIDJ^, 8IJLID.E, MJNTISIDyE, AND TERMITID^. 



We now come to a family of insects which has many points 

 of resemblance to the Dragon Flies, though those resemblances 

 are rather apparent than real. This family comprises those 

 insects which are popularly known as Ant Lions, and scien- 

 tifically as Myrmeleonidse, this word literally signifying " Ant 

 Lion." None of these insects have been found alive in England. 



Bearing some external resemblance to the Dragon Flies, these 

 insects have, nevertheless, very many points in which they 

 differ. In the first place they possess antennae, which is not 

 the case with the Dragon Flies, and in the next they pass their 

 larval and pupal state on laud, breathing atmospheric air by 

 means of tracheae or air-tubes, whereas the Dragon Flies undergo 

 those changes in the water, and breathe by means of gills. 



In habits the perfect insect differs greatly from the Dragon 

 Flies. As everyone knows, the Dragon Flies are essentially 

 creatures of the day, exulting in the sunshine, and always 

 making their appearance in the bright summer weather. The 

 Ant Lions, on the contrary, are creatures of the dusk, scarcely 

 ever being seen on the wing Ijy day, and resting during the 

 hours of light among the thickest foliage, where their sombre 

 colouring renders them perfectly secure from detection. 



The chief interest of these insects lies in their larval state, 

 and it is in this stage of development only that the name of 

 Ant Lion is rightly applicable to the creature. On Plate VIL 

 Fig. 4 is a figure of one of these remarkable larvae. It is flat, 

 wide-bodied, and is very sluggish in its movements, the slender 

 legs only serving to push it slowly backwards. Indeed, M. 

 Keaumur found that if the legs were cut off, the larva could 

 move nearly as fast as when it possessed all its limbs, the 

 rings of the abdomen forming the chief motive power. 



