7G8 



A HISTORY OF 



so idly and innocently employed, they are in 

 fact tue greatest tyrants of the insect tribe; 

 and, like the hawk among birds, are only 

 hovering up and down to seize their prey. 

 They are the strongest and the most courage- 

 ous of all winged insects ; nor is there one, 

 how large soever, that they will not attack and 

 devour. The bine-fly, the bee, the wasp, and 

 the hornet, make their constant prey ; and 

 even the butterfly, that spreads so large a wing, 

 is often caught and treated without mercy. 

 Their appetite seems to know no bounds ; 

 they spend the whole day in the pursuit, and 

 have been seen to devour three times their 

 own size in the capture of a single hour. 

 They seize their prey flying with their six 

 claws, and tear it easily to pieces with their 

 teeth, which are capable of inflicting trouble- 

 some wounds. 



But the males are upon the wing for 

 another purpose beside that of food, as they 

 are very salacious, and seek the females with 

 great ardour. The sun no sooner begins to 

 warm the fields, than the males are found 

 assiduously employed each in seeking its mate; 

 and no sooner does a female appear, but two 

 or three males are seen pursuing, and endea- 

 vouring to seize her with all their arts and 

 agility. The instrument of generation in the 

 male is placed very different from that of any 

 other insect, being not at the end of the nil, 

 as in others, but immediately under the breast, 

 and consequently, at first view, incapable of 



being united to the sexual part of the female ; 

 which, as in other insects, lies in the tail. To 

 perform this junction, nature has provided the 

 male with a very peculiar manner of proceed- 

 ing. As soon as he perceives the female, and 

 finds himself sufficiently near, he seizes upon 

 the back of her head by surprise, and fastening 

 his claws upon her, turns round his forky tail, 

 which he fastens round her neck, and in this 

 manner fixes himself so closely and firmly, 

 that no efforts can remove him. It is in vain 

 that she flies from one branch to another, and 

 settles upon them, he still keeps fixed, and 

 often continues in this situation for three or 

 four hours successively. When he flies, she 

 is obliged to fly with him ; but he still directs 

 the way : and though she moves her wings, 

 she seems entirely guided by his motion. As 

 yet, however, the business of impregnation is 

 not performed ; for to this the female must 

 contribute ; and she at last seems, by the con- 

 tinuance of her constraint, to comply : for, 

 turning up the end of her tail to that part of 

 the breast of the male in which lies the part 

 proper for generation, both instruments meet, 

 and the eggs of the female receive the 

 necessary fecundation. An hour or two 

 after this, she flics to some neighbouring 

 pool, where she deposites her eggs, as was 

 already mentioned. There they continue 

 in a reptile state for a year ; and then are 

 changed into a beautiful fly, resembling the 

 parent. 



CHAPTER CLXXX. 



OF THE FORMICA LEO, OR LION- ANT. 



ALTHOUGH this animal properly belongs 

 to no order of insects, yet as it is changed into 

 a fly very much resembling that described in 

 the preceding chapter, it may not be improper 

 to give its history here. If' we consider the 

 life of this animal, in its different stages of ex- 

 istence, we shall find it equally wonderful in 

 all ; but as it changes to a dragon-fly, what 

 we have said of that animal above, need not 

 be repeated here. The lion-ant, when it be- 

 comes an inhabitant of air, in every respect 



resembles that which has been already de- 

 scribed ; its glossy wings, its voracious appe- 

 tites, its peculiar manner of generation, are 

 entirely the same. It is in its reptile state 

 that it differs from all other insects ; and in 

 that state it will be amusing to pursue its his- 

 tory. 



The lion-ant, in its reptile state, is of the 

 size of a common wood-louse, but somewhat 

 broader. It has a pretty long head, and a 

 roundish body, which becomes a little nar- 



