NEUBOPTERA. 195 



Their head is transverse, vertical, and merely presents the ordinary 

 eyes, which are round and prominent ; there are six palpi, those of 

 the Jabium usually longer than the others, and inflated at the extre- 

 mity. The palate of the mouth is elevated in the form of an epiglot- 

 tis ; the first segment of the thorax is small ; the wings are equal, 

 elongated, and tectiform ; the abdomen is most frequently long and 

 cylindrical, with two salient appendages at its extremity in the males. 

 The legs are short. 



They are found in the warm localities of the southern countries, 

 clinging to plants, where they remain quiescent during the day. 

 Most of them fly well. The nymph is inactive. 



These Insects form the genus 



Myrmeleon, Lin., 

 Of which Fabricius has made two. 



Myrmeleon, Fab., 



Or Myrmeleon proper, Avhere the antennae enlarge insensibly, are 

 almost fusiform, are hooked at the extremity, and much shorter than 

 the body ; the abdomen is long and linear, 



JS'I.formicarium, L. ; Roes., Insect., Ill, xvii — xx. About an 

 inch long ; blackish spotted with yellowish ; wings diaphanous, 

 with black nervures picked in with white ; some obscure spots, 

 and one whitish, near the extremity of the anterior margin *, 



The number of ants destroyed by the larva of this species, 

 which is the most common one in Europe, has obtained for it the 

 name of Formica-leo, Lion-ant, or Fourmilion. Its abdomen is 

 extremely voluminous in comparison to the rest of the body. Its 

 head is very small, flattened, and armed with two long mandibles 

 in the form of horns, dentated on the inner side and pointed at 

 the extremity, which act at once as pincers and suckers. Its 

 body is greyish or of the colour of the sand in which it lives. 

 Although provided with six feet, it moves very slowly and al- 

 most always backwards. Thus, not being able to seize its prey 

 by the celerity of its motions, it has recourse to stratagem, and 

 lays a trap for it in a funnel-shaped cavity which it excavates in 

 the finest sand, at the foot of a tree, old Avails, or acclivities ex- 

 posed to the south. It arrives at the intended scene of its opera- 

 tions by forming a ditch, and traces the area of the funnel, the 

 size of which is in pi'oportion to its growth ; then, always 

 moving backwards, and describing as it goes spiral convolutions, 

 the diameter of Avhich progressively diminishes, it loads its head 

 with sand by means of one of its anterior feet, and jerks it to a 



* For the other species, see Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect., Ill, p. 190; Oliv,, 

 Encyc. Method., article Myrmeleon. See also, both for this and the following genus, 

 the work of M, Toussaint Cliarpentier, already quoted. 



