NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



the lowliest forms of craftsmanship, well adapts her 

 creatures to the conditions of their being. In the pro- 

 duction of such forms one seems here to mark traces of 

 the same quality of work that shapes a boat and ship 

 to move through the waters and a plough to cut through 

 the land. 



The grains of sand were thrown forward as the larva 

 pushed backward, and were continually tossed off by 

 sharp jerks of the head upward and sidewise, and some- 

 what like the "butting" of a sheep or goat. As the 

 larva progressed — or rather retrogressed — the sand was 

 set in motion, a furrow was formed, and as the body 

 rapidly ploughed round its shortening spirals, the small 

 particles of sand dropped to the lower part of the fur- 



ANT-LION LARVA CAPTURING AN ANT 



row, and at last became a funnel-shaped hole two or 

 three inches wide at the top and an inch or more deep. 

 The size, however, varies with the size of the larva. 

 Myrmeleon had another way of making its pitfall. 



132 



