28 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



in quite a shower beyond the circle. He worked so 

 energetically, that in less than a minute he had not 

 only outlined his pit, but had lowered the entire area 

 quite perceptibly below the surface of the ground 

 around. 



I was watching his proceedings with the greatest 

 interest, when they were suddenly put a stop to by 

 a most unfortunate occurrence. A troop of small 

 ants from some neighbouring nest made their appear- 

 ance. At the sight of the ant-lion they seemed 

 seized with fury ; they rushed towards him, threw 

 themselves on him, and buried their jaws in his 

 body. Their bite seemed poisonous ; the ant - lion 

 at once became motionless, either dead or paralyzed. 



I subsequently several times repeated the experiment, 

 but the result was never altogether satisfactory. Most 

 frequently the ant-lions, when placed on the ground, 

 simply burrowed beneath the surface, and there re- 

 mained. On some few occasions the experiments were 

 put a stop to before they had well commenced. A 

 troop of small ants suddenly appeared on the scene, 

 and before we succeeded in driving them off the ant- 

 lion was killed or entirely disabled. So far as I 

 remember, it was only on two, or at the most three, 

 occasions that the ant-lions when drawn out of their old 

 pit proceeded to construct another. Their method then 

 was precisely the same as that I have above described. 



They moved about probing the ground for a soft 

 spot. That found, they dug in the pointed end of their 

 bodies, moved round on them in a circle, throwing up 

 the sandy soil with their heads and jaws. They 



