THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 159 



So soon as ever an ant stumbles over the edge of the 

 pitfall it is inevitably borne down by the inclined plane of 

 the infernal funnel. In vain does it try to rise again ; the 

 sand yields beneath its feet, and it rolls with fatal certainty 

 to the bottom, where the terrible jaws of the ant-lion at 

 once seize and dispatch it. 



Sometimes a larger insect falls into the deadly ambus- 

 cade. It resists, and tries vigorously to scale the slope 

 again. In the mean time the treacherous ant-lion remains 

 at its post, but dreading (from the bulk of the debris which 

 rolls upon its head) the size of the animal which has thus 

 lost its way, it now takes a direct part in its destruction, 

 and in order to impede its attempts launches in swift suc- 

 cession masses of sand upon its prey, which accelerate its 

 fall to the bottom of the gulf. Once there it is infallibly 

 lost ; the ant-lion, thirsting for blood, shows no mercy. 1 



But if the ant-lion were to keep the remains of its food 

 near it, its pit would soon be converted into an uninhab- 

 itable charnel-house ; it must therefore get rid of them at 

 any sacrifice. For this purpose, whenever the larva has 

 sucked the juices out of an insect, it places the corpse upon 

 its head, and then, by a vast effort, launches it into the air, 

 and sometimes throws it a long way from the borders of its 

 hole, in order to obviate the suspicion which the corpses of 



1 The larva of a fly (Rhagio vermileo), not unlike the common flesh-maggot, 

 constructs a funnel-shaped opening like that of the ant-lion. At the bottom of 

 this it lies waiting for grubs which fall into the trap, and on which it feeds. 

 Should they attempt to escape it hurls jets of sand-earth at them, and not un- 

 frequently brings them down again. The ant-lion, though not uncommon in 

 France and Switzerland, has not, I believe, of late years at least, been seen in 

 Great Britain. Tu. 



