26 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



a pair of great horns appeared, and commenced to throw 

 up the sand in a perfect shower. The sand as it fell 

 descended on the poor ant, and as fast as he climbed up 

 it threw him back again. I was on the point of going to 

 his assistance, when by an extreme effort he managed to 

 reach the edge, to clamber over it, and escape. The 

 sudden appearance of the great horns from the bottom 

 of the pit had in it something weird and mysterious. I 

 was curious to behold the creature to which they 

 belonged, for somehow I had never as yet, either at 

 home or in India, seen an ant-lion. The servants in- 

 formed me that the easiest way of procuring an ant-lion 

 would be to angle for one with a horse-hair ; for if 

 dug out it required much trouble and time to discover 

 it among the sand. This angling for ant-lions, I was 

 also told, was a common amusement with the native 

 children. The process is this : A horse-hair is held in 

 the hand by one end ; with the other end of the hair the 

 sand at the bottom of the pit is gently stirred. The 

 movement arouses the ant-lion; he supposes that an ant 

 has fallen in, seizes the hair with his jaws, and clinging 

 to it, is drawn up. 



The process in description appeared simple enough, 

 but we found that in practice it required some little 

 dexterity to be successful. A horse-hair was got from 

 the stables ; the servants all tried, I also tried, but it was 

 a very long time before an ant-lion was captured. His 

 appearance was a disappointment. Seen out of his pit, 

 he was a most ordinary-looking insect, with no sort of 

 mystery whatever about him, nor indeed anything at 

 all remarkable except his large, flat head and great jaws. 



