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Vol. i s] 4.] Notes on the Sikandar Nama of Nizami. 155 
21. Note on the SIKANDAR NAMA of NIZAMI. By Litvt.- 
Cot. D. C. Puitorr, Secretary to the Board of Examiners. 
In the story! of Alexander going on a secret embassy to 
Naushdba occur the lines :— 
9) Bo —2L le 1) Boley yy ols? F go —3 A ple 59 52 
It seems to have escaped translators that by the expression, 
“ slippery cup ” the author refers to the pit of the ant lion. (One 
ant lion with three saliva glands of the sheep given daily to a fal- 
con in a fold of meat, is supposed by Turkish falconers to be a 
remedy for slow moulting, 
am indebted to Dr. Annandale, Deputy Superintendent of 
the Indian Museum, for the following note on the ant lion :— 
_ “ Ant lions are the young of a group of insects (Myrneleonides), 
‘‘ which somewhat resemble dragon flies in appearance but have con- 
“ spicuous, clubbed antennae and relatively larger and more dia- 
‘“phanous wings. They are common in all sandy localities in the 
e 
“ East, and a considerable number of specimens of two kinds were 
“ toothed mandibles remaining exposed. When an ant or other 
“ insect strays over the edge of the pit the loose sand slips away un- 
« der its feet, and the ant lion further increases its difficulties by jerk- 
“ing loose sand at it, until it sinks and is devoured. After iving 
“in this way for a certain period, the ant lion spins a cocoon of silk, 
““ with which it incorporates grains of sand, and pupatés at the bot- 
“ tom of its pit, whence it issues in due course as a winged and sexu- 
“ally mature insect.’ 
lL Line 3, page 75, Bombay litho. edition, dated A.H. 1265. 
2 In some Indian editions the reading is yoisey 
3 Modern Persians call the ant lion shir-i mur. 
_—eeem em ee eee PRP RF AL LOL 
