THE ANT-LION. 



iniXALLY, the famous ant-lion must be remembered 

 Jt; (Myrmecoleon), which, although not belonging to the 

 beetles, has always attracted the attention of lovers of nature 

 by its remarkable way of hunting. It is the larva of an insect 

 belonging to the order Neuroptera, the common Myrmeleon 

 (Myrmeleon formicariuni), and is therefore nearly allied to 

 the Termites. It obtains its food in the following ingenious 

 way, which vividly reminds iis of the manners of loan-office 

 vampires among men. For both live on harmless unsus- 

 pecting victims, whom chance throws into their jaws by the 

 help of a trap set in most unsuspected and therefore most 

 dangerous fashion. In dry sandy places the ant-lion makes 

 its well-known funnel-shaped pits, first making a circle in 

 the sand which marks the circumference of its hole, and 

 then makes the hole itself by shovelling out the sand. This 

 is done in the following fashion : it loads the sand on its 

 flat head, using one fore-foot as a shovel, and then jerks it 

 so forcibly out of the circle that it flies several inches away. 

 During this process it always goes backwards, until it comes 

 again to the place whence it started. It then makes a new 

 circle, and hollows out a new pit in similar fashion, until it 

 gradually comes to the centre of the funnel. But in order not 

 to tire out one leg too much with continual work, it draws- 

 alternate circles in opposite directions and uses the other 

 foot. If it comes across little stones or too coarse grains of 

 sand, it throws them over the edge of the hole. But if the 

 stone is too large to treat thus, it gets it on its back very 

 cleverly, climbs slowly and carefully up the side and throws 

 it outside the pit. It is sometimes seen thus to move stones 

 four times as heavy as itself. If the stone be round, this 

 proceeding is complicated by no light difficulties, and it 

 often rolls down again. But it patiently picks it up again,, 

 and tries to carry it away, sensibly using the path made by 

 the fallen stone. If the attempt fails, however, time after 



