THE LION-ANT. 



769 



roxver towards the tail. The colour is a dirty 

 gray, speckled with black, and the body is 

 composed of several flat rings, which slip one 

 upon another. It has six feet, four of which 

 are fixed to the bre st, and two to the neck. 

 The head is small and flat, and before there 

 are two iiule smooth horns or feelers, which 

 are hard, about a quarter of an inch long, and 

 crooked at the ends. At the b.isis of the 

 'feelers there are two small black lively eyes, 

 by which it can see the smallest object, as is 

 easily discovered by its starting from every 

 thing that approaches. 



To a form so unpromising, and so ill provid- 

 ed for the purposes of rapacity, this animal 

 unites the most ravenous appetites in nature ; 

 but to mark its imbecility still stronger, as 

 oilier ani nals have wings or feet to enable 

 them to advance towards their prey, the lion- 

 ant is unprovided with such assistance from 

 either. It has legs, indeed; but these only 

 enable it to run backward, so that it could as 

 soon die as make the smallest progressive mo- 

 tion. Thus famished and rapacious as it ever 

 seems, its prey must come to it, or rat er into 

 the snare provided for it, or the insidious 

 assassin must starve. 



But nature, that IMS di-nied it strength or 

 swiftness, has given it an equivalent in cun- 

 ning, so that no ani nal fares more sumptuous- 

 ly, without ever stirring from its retreat. For 

 this purpose, it chooses a dry sandy place at 

 th" foot of a wall, or under some shelter, in 

 order to preserve its maelii nations from the 

 rain. The driest and nost sandy spot is the 

 most proper for it ; because a heavy clogged 

 earth would defeat its labour. When it goes 

 about to dig the hole vhcre it takes its prey, 

 it begins to bend the hinder part of its body, 

 which is pointed, and thus works backward ; 

 making, after several atte npts, a circular fur- 

 row, wiiich serves to mark out the size of the 

 hole it intends making, as the ancients marked 

 our the limits of a city with a plough. Within 

 this first furrow it digs a second, then a third, 

 a;i I aft Twar Is others, which are always less 

 than the preceding. Then it begins to deepen 

 its hole, sinking lower and lower into the 

 sa^id, which it throws with its horns or feelers 

 towards the edges, as we see men throw up 

 sand in a gravel-pir. Thus, by repeating its 

 lab Kirs all round, the sand is thrown up in a 

 circle about the edge of the pit, until the 



whole is quite completed. This hole is always 

 formed in a perfect circle ; and the pit itself 

 resembles the inside of an inverted funnel. 

 When this insect first leaves the egg and is 

 newly hatched, the first pit it makes is very 

 small ; but as it gro,ws bigger, it makes a 

 larger hole ; which Is destined, like a pit-fall, 

 to entrap its prey. It is generally about two 

 inches deep, and as much in diameter. 



The work being tiius, with great labour, 

 finished, the insidious insect places itself in 

 ambush, hiding itself in the bottom under the 

 sand, in such a manner, that its two horns 

 encircle the bottom of the pit. All the sides 

 of this pit-fall are made of the most loose and 

 crumbling materials; so that scarcely any 

 insect can climb up that has once got down 

 to the bottom. Conscious of this, the lion-ant 

 remains in patient expectation, ready to profit 

 by that accident which throws some heedless 

 little animal into its den. If then, by misfor- 

 tune, an ant, a wood-louse, or a small caterpil- 

 lar, walks too near the edge of the precipice, 

 the sand gives way beneath them, and they 

 fall to the bottom of the pit, where they meet 

 inevitable destruction. The fall of a single 

 grain of sand gives the murderer notice at the 

 bottom of its cave ; and it never fails to sally 

 forth to seize upon its prey. It happens some- 

 times, however, that the ant or the wood-louse 

 is too nimbi'*, and runs up the sides of the pit- 

 fall before the other can make ready to seize 

 it. Fhe lion-ant has then another contrivance, 

 still more wonderful than the former ; for, by 

 means of its broad head and feelers, it has a 

 method of throwing up a shower of sand, 

 which fills upon the struggling captive with 

 tremendous weight, and once more crushes it 

 down to the bottom. When the insect is once 

 fallen thus low, no efforts can retrieve or re- 

 lease it ; the lion-ant seizes it with its feelers, 

 which are hollow, and darting them both info 

 its body, sucks out all the little animal's juices 

 with the utmost rapacity. 



Whm the prr-y is thus reduced to a husk, 

 and nothing but the external form remains, 

 the next care of the murderer is to remove the 

 body from its cell; since the appearance of 

 dead carcasses might forewarn other insects 

 of the danger of the place. The insect, there- 

 fore, takes up the wasted trunk with its feelers, 

 and throws it, with wonderful strength, at 

 least six laches from the edge of its hole ; and 



