19 



and the last two visible thoracic segments are each provided with a pair of these branching; 

 spines that are still longer. There is also a pair of these spines, each armed with about 6' 

 or 7 barbs, on each of the abdominal segments next to the terminal. These are graduated 

 in length, the shortest being on the last segments, and the longest hardly more than a 

 millimeter in length. The thoracic spines project forwards, while those on the abdominal 

 segments are drawn forward at the base and then curve back, strongly suggesting the dorsal 

 fin of a fish. On the last segment, which is long and tapering, there are two short armed 

 spines directly above the anal opening, which is terminal. The ventral surface of the 

 abdomen is scatteringly covered with short, strong bristles or hairs. The legs are also 

 covered with stiff hairs. 



The eggs, in batches of from five or six to a dozen (rarely more), are deposited 

 obliquely in the bark, and often the incision continues into the wood, if the bark is thin.. 

 In this way the bark and wood become fastened together, and will not separate at any 

 season, and the dark spots in the wood and the rough knotty bark bear evidences of the 

 injuries for many years. 



The eggs are of a dirty transparent white, about 1.5 m.m. in length, smooth, slightly 

 tapering, and sharply rounded towards the interior end, but tapering much more gradually 

 at the exterior end. Although normally round, the sides are generally found to be more 

 or less flattened by pressure from the tissues of the wood and bark of the tree. So 

 numerous were these eggs on some trees that a careful estimate shows that there must be- 

 at least from six to eight hundred eggs in a section of the branches not more than an inch 

 long and half an inch in diameter. * 



I have not been able to find a remedy, and perhaps the best is to destroy as many of 

 the egg-bearing limbs as possible. It is to be hoped that the little parasitic flies will 

 increase, and this seems probable. On September 17th I found five or six tree-hoppers 

 ovipositing on a piece of branch about four inches long, and on the same section were' 

 twelve or fifteen of the parasitic flies. 



NOTES ON ANT LIONS. 



BY J. ALSTON MOFFAT, HAMILTON, ONT. 



As my former notes on the Ant Lions were of interest to some of our readers,, 

 perhaps a few additional particulars on the same subject may not be objectionable to them. 

 Having had another opportunity of observing their habits, I made the best use I could of 

 it. The abdomen of the nymph is somewhat heart-shaped, flat beneath and very much 

 rounded above, thickest near the thorax, and sloping off suddenly to the sides and tail, 

 which is an acute point. The thorax is long, and with the head is narrow and flat above, 

 a form no doubt well adapted to its requirements. Its mode of travelling is backwards, 

 always " advancing to the rear," one side contracted, which produces a circular movement, 

 so that when one was placed in the centre of the palm of the hand, it made two rounds 

 before it dropped over the side. As soon as it touched the sand it put itself instantly out 

 of sight under the surface, where it lay for a short time perfectly quiet. When it began 

 the formation of its pit, which I watched to its completion, it commenced by a jerk of the 

 head and thorax, which threw the sand off and exposed them to view. It lowered them 

 at once, made a sudden start back, when the sand covered them ; then another jerk and 

 another backward move rapidly executed, always throwing the sand to the outside. In its 

 first round it described a circle of about an inch in diameter, reducing the circle with each 

 round. A mound was formed in the centre and the sand ran into the trench from both 

 sides, and thus it worked away without a halt until the mound was all thrown out, and the 

 pit had assumed the funnel shape, when it took a rest, after which it began throwing out 

 the sand from the centre at its leisure, deepening and widening the pit very much. The 

 time occupied in the first part of the operation may have been about half an hour. 



One that I was watching, after it had made nearly a round in commencing a pit, 

 seemed to be dissatisfied with the location, and started off on a prospecting tour to find one 



