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large insects. He can only ensnare such as rome by 

 his habitation, and of these, few are such as ho can 

 manage. All the winged tribe escape by flight, and 

 those that have hard shells are of no use to him. The 

 smallness of the ant, and its want of wings, make it 

 his destined prey. The manner wherein he proceed! 

 is this. He usually encamps under an old wall lor 

 shelter, and always chuses a place where the soil is 

 composed of a light, dry sand. t:i this he makes a 

 pit in the shape of a funnel, which he does in the 

 following manner. 



If he intends the pit to be but small, he thrusts his 

 hinder parts into the sand, and by degree works him- 

 self into it. When he is deep enough, he tosses out 

 with his head the loose sand which is run down, artfully 

 throwing it off, beyond the edges of the pit. Then ne 

 lU's at the bottom of the small hollow, which comes 

 sloping down to his body. 



But if he is to make a larger pit, he first traces a 

 larger circle in the sand. Then he buries himself ia 

 it, and carefully throws off the sand- beyond the cir. 

 cle. Thus he continues running down backward, in a 

 spiral line, ad throwing off the sand above him all 

 the way, till he comes to the point of the hollow cone 

 which he has farmed by his passage. The length of 

 his neck, and the flatness of Lis head, enable him to 

 use the whole as a spade. And his strength is so great 

 that he can throw .a quantity of sand, to six inches dis- 

 tance. He likewise throws away the remains of Jthe 

 animals he has devoured, that they may not fright 

 Other creatures of the same species. 



Where the sand is unmixed, he makes and repairs 

 his pit wjth great ease. But it is not so where other 

 substances are 'mixed with if. Jf when he has half 

 formed his pit, he comes to a sfone not too large, 

 he goes on leaving that to the last. When the pit is 

 finished, he creeps up backward to the stoiu', and 

 getting his backside under it, takes great' pains to 

 get it on a true poise, and then creeps backward witlv 

 it, to the top of the pit* 



