106 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



down covered with dust into his embrace. The 

 terrible jaws are instantly closed upon the un- 

 happy insect, and in a few minutes her existence 

 is at an end, the savage enemy shaking her 

 violently, or dashing her quivering frame against 

 the earth. 



Singular to add, the ant-lion loves not dead 

 prey, and will indignantly cast it out of its trap. 

 Says Reaumur, " They appear so much to delight 

 in the glory of a victory, that they disdain to touch 

 an insect who is not, to say the least, in a con- 

 dition to contend with them ! " It certainly is not 

 that the food when offered to it dead is not' fresh 

 enough that it is thus treated ; for if only killed 

 an instant before the insect still refuses to touch 

 it. Eeaumur is disposed to believe that, like our 

 sportsmen, these interesting but cruel insects 

 destroy prey more for the pleasure of exhibiting 

 their superior skill, than to appease their hunger. 

 But it is rather uncharitable even to the ant-lion, 

 to say so much as this. When the insect has 

 sucked all the juices out of its victim's body, it 

 casts it out of its trap, and the earth around, strewed 

 with dead bodies, is thus the silent witness to the 

 destroying powers of the giant within. 



