230 Insect Architecture. 



it contrives to throw away the sand, and by degrees to make 

 a hole entirely with its head, the fore legs not affording the 

 slightest assistance in the operation. During this perform- 

 ance the head only is exposed, the insect having previously 

 pushed itself beneath the surface of the sand ; but when it 

 has made the hole sufficiently deep, it withdraws the head 

 also, leaving only the jaws exposed, which are spread open in 

 a line, and laid on the sand so as to be scarcely visible. If 

 alarmed, the insect immediately takes a step backwards, 

 withdrawing the jaws ; but when an insect falls into the 

 hole, the jaws are instinctively and instantaneously closed, 

 and the insect seized by the leg, wing, or body, just as it may 

 chance to fall within the reach of the ant-lion's jaws. If, 

 however, the insect be not seized, but attempts to escape, no 

 matter in what direction, the ant-lion immediately begins 

 twisting its head about, and shovelling up the sand with the 

 greatest agility, jerking it about on each side and backwards, 

 but never forwards, as misrepresented in some figures, until 

 the hole is made so much deeper, and such a disturbance 

 caused in the sides of the hole, that the insect is almost sure 

 to be brought down to the bottom, when it is seized by the 

 ant-lion, which immediately endeavours to draw it beneath 

 the sand ; and if it be very boisterous, the ant-lion beats it 

 about, holding it firmly by the jaws until it is too weak for 

 further resistance. Hence, as the head of the ant-lion is 

 immersed in the sand, it is evident that the accounts given in 

 popular works of the instinct by which it throws the sand in 

 the direction of the escaping prey are not quite correct. The 

 act of throwing up the sand, when an insect has fallen into 

 the pit and attempts to escape, has evidently for its chief 

 object that of making the pit deeper and more conical, and 

 therefore more difficult of ascent." 



It is by the action of the hinder pair of its legs that the 

 ant-lion drags itself backwards, the other four pair being 

 extended trailing after it, and leaving an impression on the 

 surface of the fine sand over which it has passed ; and when 

 burrowing its way beneath the surface of the sand, it 

 proceeds by short steps backwards. A portion of sand at 



