CHAPTER X. 



MINERS, DIGGERS, AND CARPENTERS. 



FOR countless generations the more primitive races 

 of mankind have dug pitfalls for the capture of 

 their prey. Yet, ages before the first human hunter 

 had thought of this method of snaring the larger and 

 fiercer beasts of the wild that were more than a match 

 for his strength or primitive weapons, a small insect 

 had become a past master in the art of digging pitfalls 

 for the capture of its prey, and has handed on its craft 

 through the ages down to its descendants of to-day. 

 This insect digger of pitfalls is not a particularly intelli- 

 gent-looking creature. It has a soft, roundish, oblong 

 body covered with warty excrescences and hairs, and 

 comparatively weak legs ; but the stout, flat head is 

 armed with a pair of formidable jaws. This is the 

 famous Ant-lion, and a glance at the illustration 

 (Plate VI.) will show you that at this, the larval stage 

 of the insect's life, it is no beauty. It is fairly common 

 in the south of Europe, frequenting sandy, open places 

 where there is plenty of sunshine, and living at the 

 bottom of the funnel-shaped pitfall which it excavates 

 in the sand. 



The labour of digging out the pit is really consider- 

 able. First of all, crawling backwards with rather a 



