474 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



The work being thus, 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 scarce any insect 

 can climb up that has once got down to the 

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

 mains 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 cater- 

 pillar, 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- 



give way at every step ; and often when the insect has 

 carried it to the very brink it rolls off' its back and tum- 

 bles down to the bottom of the pit. This accident, so far 

 from discouraging the ant-lion, only stimulates it to more 

 persevering efforts. Bonnet observed it renew these at- 

 tempts to dislodge a stone, five or six times. It is only 

 when it finds it utterly impossible to succeed, that it 

 abandons the design and commences another pit in a fresh 

 situation. When it succeeds in getting a stone beyond 

 the line of its circle, it is not contented with letting it 

 rest there ; but to prevent it from again rolling in, it goes 

 on to push it to a considerable distance. 



The pitfall, when finished, is usually about three inches 

 in diameter at the top, about two inches deep, and gra- 

 dually contracting into a point in the manner of a cone 

 or funnel. In the bottom of this pit the ant-lion stations 

 Itself to watch for its prey. Should an ant or any other 

 insect wander within the verge of the funnel, it can 

 scarcely fail to dislodge and roll down some particles of 

 sand, which will give notice to the ant-lion below to be 

 on the alert. In order to secure the prey, Reaumur, 

 Bonnet, and others have observed the ingenious insect 

 throw up showers of sand by jerking it from his head in 

 quirk succession, till the luckless ant is precipitated within 

 reach of the jaws of its concealed enemy. It feeds only 

 on the blood or juice of insects ; and as soon as it has ex- 

 tracted these, it tosses the dry carcase out of its den. 

 Its next care is to mount the sides of the pitfall and re- 

 pair any damage it may have suffered; and when this is 

 accomplished, it again buries itself among the sand at the 

 bottom, leaving nothing but its jaws above the surface, 

 ready to seize the next victim. 



When it is about to change into a pupa, it proceeds in 

 nearly the same manner as the caterpillar of the water- 

 betony moth (Cucullia scrophularits). It first builds a 

 case of sand, the particles of which are secured by threads 

 of silk, and then tapestries the whole with a silken web. 

 Within this it undergoes its transformation into a pupa, 

 and in due time, it emerges in form of a four-winged fly, 

 closely resembling the dragon-flies (Libellulas}, vulgarly 

 and erroneously called horse -stingers. 



The instance of the ant-lion naturally leads us to con- 

 sider the design of the Author of Nature in so nicely ad- 

 justing, in all animals, the means of destruction and of 

 escape. As the larger quadrupeds of prey are provided 

 with a most ingenious machinery for preying on the 

 weaker, so are these furnished with the most admirable 

 powers of evading their destroyers. In the economy of 

 insects, we constantly observe, that the means of defence, 

 not only of the individual creatures, but of their larvae and 



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

 is too nimble, and runs up the sides of the pit- 

 fall before the other can make ready to seize 

 it. The 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 falls 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 

 release it ; the lion-ant seizes it with its feel- 

 ers, which are hollow, and darting them both 

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

 juices with the utmost rapacity. 



When the prey 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 carcases might forewarn other insects of 



pupae, against the attacks of other insects, and of birds, 

 is proportioned, in the ingenuity of their arrangements, 

 to the weakness of the insect employing them. Those 

 species which multiply the quickest have the greatest 

 number of enemies. Bradley, an English naturalist, has 

 calculated that two sparrows carry, in the course of a 

 week, above three thousand caterpillars to the young in 

 their nests. But though this is, probably, much beyond 

 the truth, it is certain that there is a great and constant 

 destruction of individuals going forward ; and yet the spe- 

 cies is never destroyed. In this way a balance is kept 

 up, by which one portion of animated nature cannot usurp 

 the means of life and enjoyment which the world offers 

 to another portion. In all matters relating to reproduc- 

 tion, Nature is prodigal in her arrangements. Insects 

 have more stages to pass through before they attain their 

 perfect growth than other creatures. The continuation 

 of the species is, therefore, in many cases, provided for 

 by a much larger number of eggs being deposited than 

 ever become fertile. How many larvae are produced, in 

 comparison with the number which pass into the pupa 

 state; and how many pupae perish before they become 

 perfect insects ! Every garden is covered with cater- 

 pillars ; and yet how few moths and butterflies, compara- 

 tively, are seen, even in the most sunny season ! In- 

 sects which lay few eggs are, commonly, most remark- 

 able in their contrivances for their preservation. The 

 dangers to which insect life is exposed are manifold ; and 

 therefore are the contrivances for its preservation of the 

 most perfect kind, and invariably adapted to the peculiar 

 habits of each tribe. The same wisdom determines the 

 food of every species of insect; and thus some are found 

 to delight in the rose-tree, and some in the oak. Had 

 it been otherwise, the balance of vegetable life would not 

 have been preserved. It is for this reason that the con- 

 trivances which an insect employs for obtaining its food 

 are curious, in proportion to the natural difficulties of its 

 structure. The ant-lion is carnivorous, but he has not 

 the quickness of the spider, nor can he spread a net over 

 a large surface, and issue from his citadel to seize a vic- 

 tim which he has caught in his outworks. He is there- 

 fore taught to dig a trap, where he sits, like the unwieldy 

 giants of fable, waiting for some feeble one to cross his 

 path. How laborious and patient are his operations 

 how uncertain the chances of success ! Yet he never 

 shrinks from them, because his instinct tells him that 

 by these contrivances alone can he preserve his own ex- 

 istence, and continue that of his species Insect Archi- 

 tecture. 



