384 THE LIOJf-AKt. 



grows two feelers, at the extremity of which arc 

 placed a pair of small eyes, with which it can distin- 

 guish the most minute objects ; and, independent of 

 the feelers, it has six feet, notwithstanding which it 

 can only move backwards, and is incapable of pursuing 

 a direct line. 



This defect, in the conformation of the lion-ant, 

 might be attended with very fatal effects, if cunning did 

 not supply the imperfections of Nature, and, as it can- 

 not pursue, teach it to ensnare its prey ; for this pur- 

 pose it chooses a dry sandy situation, and begins work- 

 ing backwards until it has formed a deep circular hole, 

 at the bottom of which it conceals itself in ambush, in 

 expectation that the ant or wood-louse will carelessly 

 tumble down ; and it seldom remains long in that situ- 

 ation, before the unsuspecting victims fall into the 

 snare: it then darts its feelers into their body, and, 

 through their assistance, sucks out all the juice ; after 

 which it takes up the hollow carcase, and, by dint of 

 exertion, throws it on the outside of the hole. 



When the period is arrived in which the lion-ant is to 

 undergo a change, which never happens in less than a 

 year, it lays aside its industrious employment, and be- 

 gins spinning a kind of web, in which it rolls itself up 

 like a ball ; and as it has a kind of humid moisture upon 

 it, the sand adheres to it, and defends it like a wall. 

 In this state of confinement it always continues for the 

 space of two months or six weeks, when it begins to 

 force its way through the tenement by the assistance 

 of two very sharp teeth, and soon takes its flight through 

 the circumambient element, as one of the most beau- 

 tiful insects that can possibly be seen. 



