io6 INSECT BEHAVIOR 



is tremendous and it will seldom partake of food unless it has first had 

 the joy of killing it. 



Here again the insect accomplishes by artifice what its ordinary 

 unaided efforts would have been unequal to. It digs in dry loose 

 sand a conical pit in the bottom of which it lies concealed, and there 

 seizes those unfortunate ants which, chancing to stumble over the 

 edge, are precipitated down the sloping sides into the lion's waiting 

 jaws. Sometimes the ant is able to stop half way down, regain its foot- 

 ing and scramble madly for the top. No sooner does the ant lion per- 

 ceive this than, shaking off its inactivity, it ludicrously shovels sand 

 upon its head with its front feet and hurls it vigorously upon the body 

 of the escaping ant. This heavy shower from below invariably starts 

 the sides of the pit to slide under the unfortunate insect's feet and at 

 length it is carried down to the greedy devourer in the bottom of 

 the pit. 



The methods employed by the ant lion in building its pitfall are 

 extremely interesting and I must not fail to mention the fact that we 

 have a species of this remarkable insect occurring quite commonly in 

 the United States. Many accounts have been written of their curious 

 habits, both in this country and in Europe. The following is an 

 extract from a paper written many years ago by Reaum, and is an 

 admirable description of an ant lion's energy in constructing its pit: 



"Its first concern is to find a soil of loose dry sand, in the neighbor- 

 hood of which, indeed, its provident mother has previously taken care 

 to place it, and in a sheltered spot near an old wall, or at the foot of a 

 tree. This is necessary on two accounts: The prey most acceptable 

 to it abounds there, and no other soil would suit for the construction 

 of its snare. Its next step is to trace in the sand a circle, which, like 

 the furrow with which Romulus marked out the limits of his new 

 city, is to determine the extent of its future abode. This being done, 

 it proceeds to excavate the cavity by throwing out the sand in a mode 



