574 Insects. 



ORDER IV. Neuroptera. 



THESE insects have four transparent wings, strongly 

 and beautifully varied, so as to resemble net-work. The 

 mouth has mandibles and maxillae. The abdomen of the 

 female has neither ovipositor nor sting. 



THE ANT-LION. (Myrmeleon formicarium.) 



THIS insect is hatched from an egg laid in soft moving 

 ground, or sand ; the larva soon increases in size, and 

 assumes the shape of a small spider with this differ- 

 ence, that the legs are constructed in such a way that 

 it can only proceed backwards or sideways. The abdo- 

 men is very large and fleshy; and the head, which is 

 small, is armed with two long jaws like horns, some- 

 what resembling those of the stag-beetle. What must 

 create our utmost admiration is, that this insect, which 

 can only move in a retrograde direction, is doomed by 

 nature to feed upon flies and ants, the quickness and 

 agility of which would at all times deprive him of his 

 prey were he not endowed with an uncommon instinct, 

 which prompts him to the following stratagem: He 

 makes a kind of funnel-shaped hole in the loose earth or 

 sand, and, placing himself at the bottom of it, waits 

 there with the utmost patience, till an incautious ant or 



