92 Life and Immortality. 



The unfortunate ant that ventures too close to the margin 

 sets the sand off rolling, and it immediately begins to strug- 

 gle against falling down, but the Ant-lion throws a few 

 shovelfuls of sand against it, and it soon comes tumbling 

 down to the bottom of the funnel, when it is instantly seized 

 between the sharp mandibles in waiting, which, being per- 

 forated by slender tubes, enable their blood-thirsty owner 

 to suck out its juices. 



Country children, and adults as well, manifest a deep in- 

 terest in these strange beings. They call them, as has been 

 intimated before, You-ee-ups. How the name originated, and 

 when, I do not pretend to know, nor have I been able upon 

 inquiry to find out from the oldest inhabitants of the regions 

 they affect. Old men and old women in the seventies and 

 eighties knew these insects by this name when they were 

 children, and I have been informed that they were always so 

 spoken of by their fathers and mothers. 



Even the insects themselves are believed to know the odd 

 name by which they are designated. So fixed is the belief 

 in the minds of the many that, to contradict it, is sure to 

 subject the person so rash and presumptuous to the grossest 

 abuse from the friends of the strange little creature. They 

 have seen him in his sandy retreat, and have called him by 

 name, and he has never been known to decline a response. 

 " You-ee-up, you-ee-up," cries one, with his mouth just over 

 the opening, and up comes the strange "crittur" as obedient 

 as a lackey. " You-ee-down, you-ee-down," says the same 

 childish voice, and down he goes to his den to await, as is 

 thought, the giving of further orders. 



That the Ant-lion does seem to respond when called, 

 cannot be denied, for I have tried the experiment myself, 

 and others have tried it in my presence, and always with the 

 same successful results. But people go through the world 

 not only with their eyes closed and their ears sealed, but also 

 with their minds forever locked against thinking, lest, by 

 thinking, they might do themselves serious injury. Had but 



