INSTINCT OF THE ANT-LION. §29 
_ 697. Among the instincts which direct animals in the 
_acquirement of their food, few are more remarkable than those 
possessed by the larva of the Ant-lion (fig. 266), a small insect 
vallied to the Dragon-fiy. “This larva (fig. 267) is destined to feed 
Fig. 266.—Axt Lion IN PERFECT STATE. 
“upon ants and other small insects, whose juices it sucks ; but 
it moves slowly and with difficulty, so that it could scarcely 
have obtained the requisite supply of food, if Nature had not 
ided it in the construction of a remarkable snare, which 
‘entraps the prey it could not acquire by pursuit. It digs in 
fine sand a little funnel-shaped pit (fig. a8) and conceals 
| Fig. 267. Larva or Ss , ee 
THe Ant-Lion. Fig. 268.—PiTratt oF THE ANT-LION. 
tself at the bottom of this, until an insect falls over its edge ; 
d if its victim seeks to escape, or stops in its fall to the 
bottom, it throws over it, by means of its head and mandibles, 
# quantity of sand, by which the insect is caused to roll down 
the steep, within reach of its captor. The manner in which 
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