698 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] 



[Milford-on-Sea. 



TERMITES AT WORK. 

 This shows one of the most destructive of wood-eating insects, nearly of the natural size. 



In a state of nature termites are undoubtedly beneficial. They are scavengers, in fact, 

 whose duty it is to remove the dead and decaying wood which would otherwise encumber the 

 ground for many years. But in civilised districts they are extremely mischievous, books, 

 furniture, and all the woodwork of houses being often completely destroyed by them before 

 their presence is even suspected. 



The second division of the order also forms two well-marked groups namely, the Flat- 

 winged Insects, in which the wings are fully spread, horizontally or obliquely, even in repose, 

 and the Hairy-winged Insects, in which those organs can be folded longitudinally, like the 

 joints of a fan. 



Of the former group, the ANT-LION of Southern Europe is a familiar example. The 

 perfect insect is seldom seen, owing to its nocturnal habits. In appearance it is not unlike 

 a small and delicately built dragon-fly, with a yellowish head, a black body, and transparent 

 wings marbled with brownish spots. The larva, however, is terrestrial, and lives in a funnel- 

 shaped pitfall which it scoops out in the sand, always working backwards in a spiral direction, 

 and jerking out the sand with its broad head in an almost continuous shower. Having 

 completed the excavation, it buries itself at the bottom with merely the tips of its jaws 

 appearing above the surface, and there waits for ants or other small creatures to fall down the 

 sloping sides, accelerating their descent, if need be, by flinging sand upon them. The size of 

 the pit varies with that of the insect, the fully grown grub digging down to the depth of 

 about 2 inches, while the cavity is about 3 inches in diameter. 



The mouth of the ant-lion grub is very curiously constructed, the jaws lying in a groove 

 on the inner margin of the mandibles, or jaws proper ; so that while an insect is held 

 prisoner by the latter, the former can be employed in sucking its juices. When the body 

 of the victim has been completely drained, the empty skin is thrown out of the pit by a 

 jerk of the head. 



The chrysalis, too, is remarkable for possessing jaws, by means of which it cuts its way 



