496 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the hand they will devour flies, &c., if held within their reach, 

 and they have even been known, when their bodies have been 

 severed in two, to eat flies, although they had no stomach to 

 put them in.* A very great variety of these beautiful insects 

 inhabit England. Some, the Agrionidae, whose head resembles 

 that of the hammer-headed shark, are of every vivid colour im- 

 aginable, floating in the air like beams of azure, emerald, and 

 rosy light, while others have their wings marked with large in- 

 digo-coloured spots. The larva of the Dragon-fly inhabits the 

 water, and is quite as voracious as in its perfect state. Affixed 

 to its head, a curious set of organs, called the mask, which it 

 can extend, seize its prey, and hold it to its mouth. 



Family, Myrmeleonidee. (Gr. Mvp/j,7j^, an Ant; Atwi', a Lion.) 



MYRMELEON.f 



Formicarum (Lat. of ants), the Ant-lion. 



This insect in its perfect form, although very elegant, 

 exhibits no peculiarity, but in its larva state its habits are so 

 extraordinary as to have excited general attention, As it is 

 slow and awkward in its movements, it has recourse to 

 stratagem for capturing the agile insects on which it feeds. 

 Choosing a light sandy soil, it digs for itself a conical pit, at 

 the bottom of which it conceals itself, leaving only its jaws 



* I once caught a dragon fly in my net, and while holding it by the wings I pre- 

 sented to it no less than thirty-seven large flies in rapid succession, all of which it 

 devoured, together with four long-legged spiders. It would probably have eaten as 

 many more had 1 not been tired of catching flies for it. 



\ The winged Ant-Lion is reduced one-half in size. 



