NEUROPTERA. 



161 



the Mediterranean Sea. These insects have elongated and narrow, or almost linear, 

 hind-wings, often widened out a little before the tip. The ant-lions (Myrnieleontidce) 

 may be recognised by their clubbed antennae, and their long and closely reticulated 

 wings, rounded off to an obtuse point at the extremity. 



Of the European species the common ant-lion {Myrmeleon formicarius) is one 

 of the best known. It lives in pine-woods. The winged insect, which may be 

 seen in July and September, rests during the day clinging to a plant, with its 

 wings spread like a roof over the hind-part of its body. At sunset it becomes 

 active, and executes a slow flight in its search after food or a mate. The larva, 

 to which the name ant-lion properly belongs, has the habit of making pitfalls 

 to entrap its prey. It is somewhat oval in the shape of its hind-body, and has 

 a narrow prothorax resembling a neck, and a rather big head, provided with a 

 pair of long, curved, and sharply pointed mandibles, each of which has three teeth 

 on the inner side. Its body is arched up in the middle, and has wart-like pro- 

 tuberances, thickly covered with hairs, at the sides. When about to make a pit, 



LACE-WING FLIES. 



1, Chrysopa vulgaris ; 2, The tip of its wing ; 3, Larva ; 4, Pupa ; 5, 6, Cocoon ; 7, Egg ; 8, Hemerobius hirtus. 



it selects a dry and sandy spot, and begins by tracing out a circular furrow to 

 mark its outer limit. Placing itself inside the circle, it buries its abdomen in the 

 sand, and then proceeds with the work of excavation. With one of its fore-legs it 

 shovels the sand on to its large flat head, to which it then gives a sudden jerk, and 

 sends the sand out over the border. It repeats this process, walking backwards 

 and maintaining a spiral course all the while, until finally it reaches the centre of 

 the cavity. Sometimes, however, instead of continuing to work altogether in one 

 direction, it turns round and works the opposite way, thus giving relief to the 

 leg which had previously been employed. And, as the sand is always taken from 

 the inner side, it is the leg on that side which is always used as a shovel. The pit, 

 when completed, is shaped like the mouth of a funnel, being wide above and 

 gradually narrowed to the bottom. Its size is adapted to the size of the larva, 

 which when full grown makes a pit about two inches deep, and three inches wide 

 at the top. Buried in the sand at the bottom, with only its antennae and the tips of 

 its mandibles projecting, the ant-lion waits until an ant or some other creature falls 

 down the loose sides of the pit, when it is immediately seized with the pincer-like 

 jaws, and retained until all the juices of its body have been sucked out, and nothing 

 left but the dry and shrivelled skin. The latter is cast outside the pit, and the 



