Insect Study 



395 



THE ANT-LION 



Teacher's Story 



CHILD is thrilled with fairy stories of ogres in their dens, 

 with the bones of their victims strewn around. 

 The ants have real ogres, but luckily, they do 

 not know about it and so cannot suffer from 

 agonizing fears. The ant ogres seem to have 

 depended upon the fact that the ant is so ab- 

 sorbed in her work that she carries her booty up 

 hill and down dale with small regard for the 

 topography of the country. Thus they build 

 their pits, with instinctive faith that they will 

 some day be entered by these creatures, 

 obsessed by industry and careless of what lies in the path. The pits 

 vary with the size of the ogre at the bottom ; there are as many sized 

 pits as are beds in the story of Golden Locks and the bears; often the 

 pits are not more than an inch across, or even less, while others are two 

 inches in diameter. They are always made in sandy or crumbly soil and 

 in a place protected from wind and rain ; they vary in depth in propor- ' 

 tion to their width, for the slope is always as steep as the soil will stand 

 without slipping. 



All that can be seen of the ogre at the bottom, is a pair of long, curved 

 jaws, looking innocent enough at the very center of the pit. If we dig the 

 creature out, we find it a comical looking insect. It is humpbacked, with 

 a big, spindle-shaped abdomen; from its great awkward body projects a 

 flat, sneaking looking head, armed in front with the sickle jaws which are 

 spiny and bristly near the base, and smooth, sharp and curved at the tip. 

 The strange thing about these jaws is that they lead directly to the throat, 

 since the ant-lion has no mouth. Each jaw is made up of two pieces 

 which are grooved where they join and thus form a tube with a hole in 

 the tip through which the industrious blood of the ants can be sucked; 

 not only do the sharp sickle points hold the victim, but there are three 

 teeth along the side of each jaw to help with this. The two front pairs of 

 legs are small and spiny; the hind legs are strong and peculiarly twisted, 

 and have a sharp spikelike claw at the end , which is so arranged as to push 

 the insect backward vigorously if occasion requires ; in fact, the ant-lion 

 in walking about, moves more naturally backward than forward because 

 of the peculiar structure of his legs. 



Having studied the ogre, 

 we can see better how he 

 manages to trap his victim. 

 As the ant goes scurrying 

 along, she rushes over the 

 edge of the pit and at once 

 begins to slide downward; 

 she is frightened and 

 struggles to get back ; just 

 then a jet of sand, aimed 

 well from the bottom of the 

 pit, hits her and knocks her ^„^_;^^„ ^-^j^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^„^ ^^^^_ 



back. She still struggles, Comstock's Manual. 



