ROADSIDE LIFE. 27 1 



rows, which can be easily recognized after one has 

 learned their characteristic appearance. These bur- 

 rows abound in sandy places, in beaten paths, and 

 in plowed fields that have become dry and hard. 

 The larger ones, those occupied by full-grown larvae, 

 measure about one sixth inch in diameter, and often 

 extend a foot or more in depth. The sides are 

 smooth ; the entrance to each is very regular in out- 

 line, and without any loose dirt on the surface of the 

 ground near it, as is usually the case with 

 somewhat similar burrows made by ants. 



Fig. 245 represents a larva of a tiger- 

 beetle. When watching for its prey, the 

 larva rests perfectly still at the mouth of 

 its burrow. Its dirt-colored head is bent 

 at right angles to its lighter-colored body 

 and makes a neat plug to the opening of ' ^'^^* 



the hole. Its rapacious jaws extend upward, wide 

 open, ready to seize the first unwary insect that 

 walks over this living trap. On the fifth segment of 

 the abdomen there is a hump, and on this hump are 

 two hooks curved forward. This is an arrangement 

 by which the little rascal can hold back and keep 

 from being jerked out of its hole when it gets some 

 large insect by the leg, and by which it can drag its 

 struggling prey down into its lair, where it may eat 

 it at leisure. 



The holes of the tiger-beetle larvas are always 

 open when found, the larvae being frightened away 

 by the approach of the observer. But sit down near 

 them, and watch quietly, and soon they will be 

 plugged by dirt-colored heads. Each passer-by will 

 cause the cautious larvae to retreat ; but they will re- 



