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tity of sand upon and above the insect, to pre- 

 vent its climbing up the steep sides of his hole ; 

 and, when the prey appears strong and nimble, 

 he gives a general commotion, the whole con- 

 struction crumbles down, and the imprudent in- 

 sect, overwhelmed with the ruins, falls into the 

 horns of the Ant-Lion, which open as a pair of 

 forceps at the bottom. When he has sucked 

 the blood and inside of his prey, he charges it 

 upon his head, and, by a sudden jerk, throws 

 the carcase, at a great distance, away from his 

 abode. After passing several weeks in these 

 watchings and troubles to get his food, he be- 

 ing then grown to a larger size, makes himself 

 a kind of hall out of the sand, which he hangs 

 inside with a shining kind of thread or silk, and 

 remains there till he arrives at his second state, 

 which is a sort of chrysalis, or larva, the ap- 

 pearance of which is between the past and the 

 future form. From this larva, this shapeless, 

 uncouth, ill-looking, mummy-like being, arises 

 a slender-waisted winged insect, which after 

 fluttering about for a few weeks, performing the 

 duty of nature, and depositing eggs in the sand, 

 resigns its life, conscious, we may suppose, of 

 having done all it was created for, and fulfilled 



