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After a time I had increased the number of my " tigers " until I 

 had over a hundred to look after. Most of them soon settled down 

 comfortably in thir new abodes, which were made to their liking, 

 and thoroughly done up by each of the tenants, which, when 

 thoroughly settled, did not attempt to leave their burrows, but "sat" 

 at the top enjoying the sun and any stray insect which I turned in. 

 I turned one or two out on to the surface to watch their proceedings. 

 They seem quite lost when so exposed, and some commenced to ex- 

 cavate by shovelling out the sand with their bent and turned-up 

 mandibles, which, in conjunction with the receding forehead and 

 mobile neck, form a very handy shovel ; and after a few minutes' 

 work the head is soon out of sight, the sand being forced up con- 

 tinually. I was desirous of observing the purpose of the spines on 

 the fifth segment, but after endless watching I never once saw that 

 they were used for supporting the larva when excavating. This was 

 done by the legs alone, the sharp-pointed claws being driven deep 

 into the sides of the burrow. As the depth increased the tail 

 gradually disappeared, but the sand continued to be sent up. At 

 last there was a tremendous upheaval, the sand falling all around the 

 closed hole, when suddenly the head apfjeared acting like a ram, the 

 sand being brought up on the crown. Again descending, other loads 

 were brought up to the level, when the head would poise for a 

 moment, then suddenly- it was jerked back, and the sand shot off 

 and away to a distance of nine or ten inches. This movement 

 showed to me the purpose of the mobile neck. I was so delighted at 

 this discovery that I assembled all folks in the house to come and 

 see the great shooting tiger larva ; and no visitor ever called but 

 went away perfectly charmed by the sight, for the hole had been 

 finished, and I had only to drop down a small pebble of quartz and 

 watch, when soon the larva would be seen rising up in the hole with 

 the pebble between its mandibles. As soon as it reached the top it 

 paused a moment, balanced its load, and in a second away the 

 pebble flew to a distance of a foot, and at the same moment the 

 larva disappeared down its burrow. The next advance was made in 

 noting the wonderful way in which the countersunk excavation was 

 made at the top of the burrow. I observed a larva rise in the hole, 

 and with its jaws bite out pieces from around the edges ; these it 

 jerked away. Then after it had roughly made the pitfall entrance 

 it raised its head well out of the top, and with its hugely developed 

 convex chin and mobile neck hammered into the concavity until it 

 was perfectly smooth all round ! On cutting an exact section through 

 the centre of such a finished pitfjll, I found the curve of the con- 

 cavity to exactly agree with that of the creature's chin 1 After every- 

 thing had been finished the larva would rest at the top of the burrow, 

 the large thoracic semicircular plate occupying one half, while the 

 head and mouth organs fitted the other, the recurved and open jaws 

 resting on the concave pitfall. Woe be to any creeping thing that 

 falls into this pit ! In a moment the open jaws are closed over the 



