448 SYNOPTIC COLLECTION. 



cement to which she attaches an egg (No. 1135; PI. 

 1136, fig. i). The larva (fig. 2) crawls out and is Thy- 

 sanuriform in general aspect. The mouth parts, how- 

 ever, are specialized for sucking. Each mandible is 

 grooved on the lower side, and the maxilla fits into it in 

 such a way that a tube is formed through which the blood 

 of the prey is sucked. The eggs are laid where Aphides 

 abound, so that the larvae find their food close at hand. 

 When ready to transform, the larva spins a silken cocoon 

 (fig. 3). The adult (No. 1137; PI. 1136, fig. 4) cuts a 

 lid in this cocoon and crawls out. It has brilliant golden 

 eyes, biting mouth parts, and gauzy wings of large size 

 compared with the body ; but the flight of the insect is 

 slow. 



Among the Coleoptera we have found the larvae of the 

 tiger beetles watching for their prey in burrows ; so the 

 larval Myrmeleon immaculatits De Geer, or ant-lion of the 

 Neuroptera digs a pitfall (PL 1138, fig. i, lower portion, 

 showing insect; fig. i a, upper portion of same) in dry 

 loose sand and buries itself at the bottom with the excep- 

 tion of its stout mandibles which are wide apart ready to 

 seize whatever insect falls in. The mouth opening of 

 Myrmeleon is not of the usual character but is com- 

 pressed and its mandibles are like those of Chrysopa, so 

 that the unfortunate victim that has fallen down the pit is 

 held by the mandibles until its juices are sucked out, 

 when the empty skin is thrown some distance beyond the 

 pit by means of the ant-lion's head. 



The mature larva makes a cocoon by fastening grains 

 of sand together with silk spun from its spinneret. The 

 adult (No. 1139 ; PI. 1138, fig. 2) has biting mouth parts. 

 Though its wings are large, its flight is weak and it flies 

 chiefly at night. The antennae of the ant-lion are 

 slightly swollen at the ends, but this tendency is carried 

 so far in Ascalaphus (PI. 1140) that it possesses knobbed 

 antennae like those of butterflies of the order Lepidoptera. 

 In short, this insect strikingly resembles a butterfly, hav- 



