How Animals Work. 



ing victims within reach of its sickle-shaped jaws. With 

 its stumpy legs and large, flat head, it sets to work 

 digging and scraping, heaving the loose earth out of 

 the excavation with its head, which makes a first-rate 

 shovel, until a little tunnel is scooped out, descending 

 vertically at first, and then continued in a horizontal 

 direction. When at last the task of excavating this 

 shaft is completed, the larva mounts to the top of the 

 tunnel, where it rests with its flat head filling the mouth 

 of its den like a trap-door. It is able to rest in this 

 curious position quite comfortably with the aid of its 

 short legs and the two blunt, hooklike processes on its 

 back. Sooner or later some small insect draws close to 

 the entrance of the tunnel, or may even incautiously 

 run on to the large, flat head that fits the opening like 

 a lid. Instantly the head of the Tiger larva goes up 

 with a sudden jerk, and the victim is caught in the 

 strong, curved jaws, dragged below with lightning 

 rapidity, and devoured. 



A very expert miner is the Mole Cricket, an insect 

 that is not very often seen in England, but which is 

 all too common in some of the vineyards and highly 

 cultivated lands of France, where it is called the 

 Courtiliere (Plate VII.). The Mole Cricket is readily 

 distinguished from all other insects by the structure 

 of its front legs, which are very stout, and terminate 

 in a broad, somewhat flattened expansion so deeply 

 notched as to look like an exaggerated replica of the 

 front paw of the mole. The body is large, more or 

 less cylindrical in shape, and bluntly tapers at either 

 end, the greatest width, as in the mole, being across 

 what we may term the shoulders -that is, immediately 



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