THE ANT-LION. . 11 



SUB-ORDER I PLANIPENNIA. 

 FAMILY MEGALOPTERA. 



This family, which includes the most typical forms of the Planipennia, or Flat-winged 

 Neuroptera, may be at once distinguished by the position of the head, which is set on 

 perpendicularly in front of the thorax, that is, with the mouth directed downwards, but not 

 produced into a sort of beak. The upper surface of the head usually has no ocelli. The 

 parts of the mouth are all separate, and the ligula is not cleft. The abdomen is long and 

 slender. 



Although the perfect insects of this family exhibit some divergence in external characters, 

 their larvae present a close resemblance in structure. They are shorter and natter in form 

 than the parent insects, and furnished with six well-developed legs. Their food consists of other 

 insects, in the capture of which some of them exhibit remarkable cunning and contrivance, 

 and their instruments for taking nourishment show a very curious modification of the organs 

 of the mouth. The mouth is in fact closed up, the labium, which bears a pair of jointed 

 palpi, being firmly soldered to the under surface of the head ; above it is a pair of long, 

 curved, and sharp forceps, formed by the mandibles, which are deeply grooved along their 

 lower surface, and the maxillae, which are slender, and exactly close the groove in the 

 mandibles from beneath. In this way the two pairs of jaws become converted into a pair of 

 tubular, sickle-shaped forceps, and when the points of these are plunged into the body of 

 another insect, the juices of the latter can readily pass into the two channels, which open at 

 the base directly into the oesophagus. The pupa is enclosed in a cocoon, the material for 

 which is derived from a gland situated in the terminal part of the intestine. 



The MYRMELEONTID.E, or ANT-LIONS, are among the most interesting forms of this great 

 family. They may be distinguished at once by having their antennae clubbed at the tip. 

 The larvae have a rather large head, and the inner edge of the mandibles toothed. 



The common ANT-LION (Myrmeleon europceus, see figure on p. 9), which is abundant in sandy 

 places in the South of Europe, is a slender and elegant creature, with large finely reticulated 

 wings, not unlike a very delicate form of Dragon-fly. It measures rather more than an inch in 

 length, and is of a blackish colour, with a yellowish head spotted with black, and transparent 

 wings with scattered brownish spots. Its larva, to which the name of Ant-lion properly 

 belongs, is of a stout form and a greyish-yellow colour, covered with warty processes and 

 with hairs. It bears seven simple eyes and a short antenna on each side of the head; its- 

 tarsi consist of a single joint, terminated by a pair of strong claws; and it moves in a 

 jerky manner and always backwards. Its food consists of Ants and other small insects, 

 which it captures by a singularly ingenious arrangement, namely, a funnel-shaped pitfall in the 

 sand, at the bottom of which it lies waiting until some unlucky victim, venturing over the 

 margin of the pit, gets upon the treacherous slope of sand, which affords no secure foothold. 

 When the descent of grains of sand reveals the presence of a prey to the Ant-lion patiently 

 waiting below, he throws up a shower of sand which helps the victim in its descent. The 

 labour undergone by the Ant-lion in the construction of his funnel-shaped pitfall is very 

 considerable. He commences by making a circular excavation which marks out the size of the 

 pit, and having completed this, proceeds most laboriously to dig out the space thus circumscribed 

 to the required depth. In doing this he works usually in a spiral direction, always going; 

 backwards. The sand is placed by the action of the legs upon the surface of the shovel-like 

 head, and then by a jerk thrown quite beyond the boundary of the pit, and the larva is 

 so active in its operations than when at work it produces a continuous shower of sand. On 

 completing its dwelling it buries itself in the sand at the bottom, frequently, however, allowing 

 its formidable jaws to project a little. The larva is supposed to live for two years. The perfect 

 insect is rather sluggish. 



A second species of Myrmeleon, with similar habits (M. formicarius), is abundant in 



