THE LION- ANT. 11 



inevitable destruction. The fall of a single grain 

 of sand gives the murderer notice at the bottom 

 of its cave, and it never fails to sail) 7 forth to 

 seize upon its prey. It happens sometimes, how- 

 ever, that the ant or the wood-louse is too nimble, 

 and runs up the sides of the pit-fall before the 

 other can make ready to seize it. The lion-ant 

 has then another contrivance, still more wonder- 

 ful than the former ; for, by means of its broad 

 head and feelers, it has a method of throwing up 

 a shower of sand, which falls upon the struggling 

 captive with tremendous weight, and once more 

 crushes it down to the bottom. When the insect 

 is once fallen thus low, no efforts can retrieve or 

 release it ; the lion-ant seizes it with its feelers, 

 which are hollow, and darting them both into its 

 body, sucks out all the little animal's juices with 

 the utmost rapacity. 



When the prey is thus reduced to a husk, and 

 nothing but the external form remains, the next 

 care of the murderer is to remove the body from 

 its cell ; since the appearance of dead carcasses 

 might forewarn other insects of the danger of the 

 place. The insect, therefore, takes up the wast- 

 ed trunk with its feelers, and throws it with won- 

 derful strength at least six inches from the edge 

 of its hole ; and then patiently sets about mend- 

 ing the breaches which its fortifications had re- 

 ceived in the last engagement. Nothing can 

 abate its industry, its vigilance, its patience, or 

 its rapacity. It will work for a week together to 

 make its pit-fall ; it will continue upon the watch 

 for more than a month, patiently expecting the 



