INSTINCT OF THE ANT-LION. 



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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 

 allied to the Dragon-fly. This larva (fig. 267) is destined to feed 



Fig. 206. ANT 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 

 guided 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. 268), and conceals 



Fig. 267. LARVA or 

 THE ANT-LION. 



Fig. 268. PITFALL OF THE ANT-LI-. x. 



itself at the bottom of this, until an insect falls over its edge ; 

 and 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, 

 a 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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