52 



that they were to be found about a mile away, and our informant 

 vohinteered to take us to the spot. It turned out to be about three 

 miles back along the road we had just come, at a place where the 

 road was bordered by a bit of low, rather overhanging cliff. On 

 some shallow ledges on this where a little loose earth had ac- 

 cumulated were the very inconspicuous circular depressions we 

 were looking for, and a finger very quickly ejected a plump ant- 

 lion larva from the bottom of each. It was a wet day and Ave had 

 not the camera with us at the time, but determined to come next 

 day, whatever the weather, as it was our last. However, later in 

 the day we passed other places of similar character, sheltered ledges 

 on which loose earth and flakes of shale had accumulated, and in 

 nearly every case, now we knew what to look for, we found the ant- 

 lion, more numerous, better situated for photographing, and much 

 nearer home than in our first situation. 



The larva^ were found in various stages, from quite small up to 

 full-grown, and a few of the round bullet-like cocoons were also 

 found, but all empty. In the neighbourhood of the pit were usually 

 to be seen the dried empty carcases of a number of ants, earwigs, 

 beetles, and spiders. Some of these larva? that we brought home 

 have thriven very well. A few very soon spun their cocoons beneath 

 the surface of the soil, and from these the flies duly emerged, but 

 the majority are hibernating as larvfP, and will probably not spin 

 up until June. When the perfect insect is ready to emerge, the 

 pupa tears a hole in the wall of the cocoon with its jaws, and thrusts 

 out the fore part of its body, and the fly emerges ; sometimes the 

 pupa leaves the cocoon entirely before the emergence of the fly. 

 The ant-lion fly is a sluggish creature with a very weak flight. 

 We could not at first get them to feed, and many of them died 

 within a few days of emergence ; but eventually Mr. Main found 

 that if one were held upside down by the wings, it would then hold a 

 small fly with its legs and nibble at it. In this way, by feeding 

 them every day, he kept them alive over two months, and succeeded 

 in getting ova from them. These were oval in shape, green, with 

 a small white spot at each end ; unfortunately they were not fertile 

 and shrivelled up. 



Very soon after emerging, the imago drops an elongated sausage- 

 like body, of a pinkish-grey colour and a somewhat porcellaneous 

 texture. On breaking this open it is found to consist of a 

 solid black mass enclosed in a chalky coat. The black central 

 portion of it is a mass of excremental matter that has apparently 

 been accumulated during the Avhole larval life of the ant-lion. Its 

 food during this period being composed wholly of fluid sucked out 

 of the bodies of its victims is almost completely digested, so that 

 there is very little excremental matter to get rid of ; so little in 

 fact that no provision is made for its removal, for the alimentary 

 canal does not open behind. It is possible that something is 

 ejected at the various larval moults, but we have been able to find 



