THE ANT-LIONS 



(Family Myrmeleonidce.) 



The so-called ant-lions are interesting creatures which have 

 long attracted the attention of naturalists and of nature students. 

 The average American country boy knows the ant-lion pits in 

 the sand about as well as he knows the curious caddis worms in 

 the brooks. It is rather a large group, and about thirty or more 

 species are known in the United States, three hundred or more 

 comprising the number of described species in the entire world. 



The adult flies have short clubbed antennae and four reticu- 

 late wings, and are not especially attractive in their personal 

 appearance. 



They vary considerably in size, and some of them have a 

 wing expanse of four inches. 



The eggs must be laid in the sand, and the larvae when 

 hatched immediately begin to construct little pits. They have 

 flat heads and long jaws, and scrape a load of sand on the head 

 by means of the front legs, and then jerking the head suddenly 

 upwards and backwards throw the sand to a distance. The 

 future pit is planned as to size, and the larva first excavates a 

 circular groove in the way just described. Then it makes an- 

 other circle within the first and so on until a conical pit results, at 

 the bottom of which the larva remains in hiding. The sand on 

 the sides lies, when the pit is finished, at such an angle that the 

 least disturbance causes it to slide toward the bottom, and when 

 an ant or some other small insect reaches the verge he is apt to 

 slip rapidly toward the open jaws of the larva waiting to receive 

 him at the bottom. In case, however, by great activity, he 

 seems likely to escape over the margin again, his fall is assisted 

 by the ant-lion at the bottom, which throws little showers of 

 sand upwards, and these showers falling upon the struggling 

 insect hasten its descent. 



Any little deposit of sand beneath buildings or at the bottom 



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