164 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



were it not furnished with some quality which serves it in the 

 lieu of speed, it would soon die of hunger. The very look of the 

 larva is enough to make the observer marvel as to its method of 

 obtaining food. Thick, short, soft, and fleshy, the body is sup- 

 ported on six very feeble legs, of which the hinder pair only are 

 employed for locomotion, and these can only drag it slowly 

 backwards. Indeed, the general outline of the body and head 

 bears no small resemblance to that of a fat-bodied garden spider. 

 So feeble are its limbs, that they are practically of very little 

 use in locomotion, and even when they are cut off, the creature 

 can move nearly as well as when they were in their places. 

 From the front of the head project a pair of long, slender, curved 

 mandibles, which give the first intimation that the grub has 

 anything formidable in its nature. These mandibles are curiously 

 made, being deeply grooved throughout their length, and per- 

 mitting the maxillae, or inner pair of jaws, to play up and down 

 them. 



Inert and helpless as it may seem, this grub is a ruthless 

 destroyer of the more active insects, and, moreover, seldom 

 catches any but the most active. Choosing some sandy spot, 

 where the soil is as far as possible free from stones, it begins to 

 form the celebrated pitfalls by which it is enabled to entrap 

 ants and other insects. Depressing the end of its abdomen, and 

 crawling backwards in a circular direction, it traces a shallow 

 trench, the circle varying from one to three inches in diameter. 

 It then makes another round, starting just within the first circle, 

 and so it proceeds, continually scooping up the sand with its 

 head, and jerking it outside the limits of its trench. By continuing 

 this process, and always tracing smaller and smaller circles, the 

 grub at last completes a conical pit, and then buries itself in the 

 sand, holding the mandibles widely extended. 



Should an insect, an ant, for example, happen to pass near the 

 pitfall, it will be sure to go and look into the cavity, partly out 

 of the insatiable curiosity which distinguishes ants, cats, monkeys, 

 and children, and partly out of a desire to obtain food. No 

 sooner has the ant approached the margin of the pitfall, than the 

 treacherous soil gives way, the poor insect goes tumbling and 

 rolling down the yielding sides of the pit, and falls into the ex- 

 tended jaws that are waiting for it at the bottom. A smart bite 

 kills the ant, the juices are extracted, and the empty carcase it 



