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TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



To compensate for the want of wings, the hind-legs form long and 

 powerful jumping organs, which enable the small brown wight to 

 execute enormous leaps. The eggs are deposited in the chinks of floor- 

 boards, rotten wood, etc. The decaying vegetable and animal sub- 

 stances found in such places form the food of the legless lame, which 

 here also pass through their pupa condition. 



ORDER V. : NET-WINGS (NEUROPTERA). 



MOUTH parts masticatory ; the first thoracic somite (prothorax) usually 

 free ; wings all equal, transparent, with reticulate neuration (name). 

 Metamorphosis complete. 



The Ant-Lion (Myrmeleon fonnicanus) . 

 (Length up to 2 inches.) 



L. 



ANT-LION AND ITS METAMORPHOSIS. 



E., Egg: on the left, natural size ; on the right, magnified ; L.. larva (magnified about four 

 times) ; L.I., larva ( x about twice) commencing to build a funnel ; L.2., larva buried at 

 bottom of funnel, and bombarding an ant with sand;.P.l., pupa with cocoon opened; 

 P. 2., pupa removed from cocoon ; A.I., ant-lion sitting on a tree -trunk ; A.2., ant-lion break- 

 ing through cocoon after escaping from pupa. 



On sandy soil, especially at the edges of pine-woods, we often come 

 across pretty funnel-shaped depressions, at the bottom of which is found 



