i 
432 ZOOLOGY. 
Tur AxT-LION.— While in the Indian Ladder Region, Albany 
Co., N. Y., in August, 1871, I found a large colony of ant-lions. 
It is situated near the head of the “ Ladder Road,” at the base of 
the cliffs and extends for several rods along the path to the “ Tory 
House.” ‘The cliffs’ here hang over the paths, so that it is almost 
impossible for rain to reach the.spot. The soil is composed of 
‘disintegrated limestone, extremely fine, but mingled with minute 
fragments of stone as well as larger pebbles. 
In Aug., 1871, the colony numbered rather more than 600 indi- 
viduals, but on July 6, 1872, there were scarcely half that num- 
ber. Perhaps at this last date some were in the chry salis, as of 
several specimens thus obtained most of them entered that state in a 
_ short time, while those ‘taken in August remained until the following 
spring. 
Food was very scarce in this colony, as it was rare to see more 
than four or five victims in the lions’ dens at one time. On several 
occasions I noticed a strong and active insect, having ventured 
over the edge of the pit, run swiftly down and up the other side, 
leaving the ant-lion wildly snapping its jaws, as the intended victim 
mounted the steep side of the pitfall. 
The ant-lion does not, so far as my obser ition goes, throw up 
sand to bring down its prey, but throws it up in every direction in 
order to keep its jaws free to seize the insect when it reaches the 
bottom of the den. 
In: 1871 there was another colony (which I did not viet in 
1872) near the “ Paint Mine.” It consisted of some 300 members. 
I call it a colony, although, of course, there was no friendly inter- 
course between the inhabitants of the settlement. On the other 
hand, in the most crowded portions, the chief employ ment of the 
insects was to throw out the dirt which their active neighbors 
were depositing on their own premises.—E. A. BIRGE, Williams 
College. 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE a true classification 
`of insects makes slow but steady progress. Although easily ob- 
served, the beetles have not been so well arranged heretofore as 
in the recent system of George R. Crotch, who proposed to divide 
the Coleoptera into Rhynchophora and Coleoptera proper, following 
out the sketch made by Dy. Le Conte in 1862. Coleoptera proper 
in turn are subdivided into two parallel series, the Isomera an 
