HUNTING AND FISHING OF ANIMALS 1567 



One of the most dangerous ambushes which can be 

 met on the road by animals who resort to a spring is 

 that prepared by the python. This gigantic snake 

 hangs by his tail to the branch of a tree and lets 

 himself droop down like a long creeper. The victim 

 who comes within his reach is seized, enrolled, 

 pounded in the knots which the snake forms around 

 him. It is not necessary to multiply examples of 

 this simple and widespread method of hunting. 



Not content with utilizing the natural arrange- 

 ments they meet with, there are animals which con- 

 struct genuine ambushes, acting thus like man, who 

 builds in the middle or on the edge of ponds, cabins 

 in which to await wild ducks, or who digs in the 

 path of a lion a hole covered with trunks of trees, at 

 the bottom of which he may kill the beast without 

 danger. Certain insects practice this method of 

 hunting. The fox, for instance, so skilful a hunter 

 in many respects, constructs an ambush when hunt- 

 ing hares. 



The larva of the tiger beetle (Cicindela campes- 

 tris) constructs a hole about the size of a feather 

 quill, disposed vertically, and of a depth, enormous 

 for its size, of forty centimetres. It maintains itself 

 in this tube by arching its supple body along the walls 

 at a height sufficient for the top of its head to be 

 level with the surface of trie soil, and to close the 

 opening of the hole. A little insect an ant, a young 

 beetle, or something similar passes. As soon as it 

 begins to walk on the head of the larva, the latter 

 letting go its hold of the wall allows itself to fall 

 to the bottom of the trap, dragging its victim with it. 



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VOL. IV. 



