196 BLUEFIELDS. 



the exhibition of the stratagem, strikes one at first 

 sight. But on reflection, we perceive that this very 

 circumstance is but a further display of unerring in- 

 stinct ; for the frail pits on v^^hich the insect's success 

 depends, would be filled up and effaced by a breath 

 of wind, spoiled by a shower of rain, and destroyed, 

 with their ingenious architects, by a passing footstep 

 of man or beast. The depth of this locality was a 

 protection against the first contingency, its inacces- 

 sibility precluded the last, while rain was kept off by 

 the remaining roof of the building ! 



How inexhaustible are the resources of Divine 

 wisdom, when the outgoings of it in the meanest in- 

 sects are so wonderful ! 



I took two or three of the grubs into the house, 

 and put them into a small box partially filled with 

 sand, hoping to witness the construction of the pit- 

 fall. They soon began to work, proceeding back- 

 ward, and shovelling the sand exactly as described, 

 but only in irregular lines, leaving one after it had 

 proceeded for some distance, and beginning another ; 

 so that they did not make even one complete circle. 

 I was called to a distance, however, and the insects 

 were thrown away. The species was probably M. 

 Leachii, of which I have taken a single specimen 

 near Bluefields, the onl^; one I ever met with in a 

 perfect state.* 



* This rarity of the imago, contrasting with the abundance of the 

 larva, of this insect, has been noticed by Guilding in St. Vincents. 

 He observes that not a single perfect insect had been found by him 

 in a state of liberty, though the larvas swarm under every rock or 

 shed calculated to protect their pitfalls from the rain and wind. 

 (^Linn. Trans, xvi. 47.) 



