76 



AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



sand and a tumble into the jaws of the enemy. Should the ant 

 recover a footing before reaching the bottom, a shower of sand, 

 ^.^^ ^ sent by the vigilant 



larva below, over- 

 whelms and brings 

 it down to its death. 

 When the juices 

 are exhausted, the 

 empty shell is 

 thrown out and the 

 pit is repaired for 

 other victims. 

 Sometimes pits are 

 made in saw-dust 

 or friable leaf mold 

 and some make no 

 pits at all. 



The adults are 

 of two rather dis- 

 tinct series : the 

 first with short 

 antennae which 

 thicken rather gradually toward the tip, including Myrmeleo ; the 

 second with long, slender antennae, enlarging suddenly into a 

 flattened club. The head is larger and the body more robust, 

 covered with stiff bristly hair, giving the insects a fierce appear- 

 ance. The most common genus is Ascalaphus, and the larval 

 habits are not known, though it is probable, from what w^e learn 

 of foreign species, that they do not build pits or traps. Though 

 interesting, the family is of no economic importance. 



An odd family is the MaiitispidcB , so named from the peculiar 

 resemblance which they bear to the Orthopterous genus Mantis. 

 The species are not common, and are easily recognized by the 

 enormously developed forelegs, which are fitted for grasping, and 

 are inserted into a long and slender prothorax. They are pre- 

 daceous, while their larvae are parasitic in the egg-sacs of spiders. 

 The eggs are laid on stalks, as with the "lace-wings," and the 

 slender larvae that hatch from them live through the winter with- 

 out food, becoming active again in spring, when they seek the 



Myrmeleo species. — The adult above ; the larva in its pit, 

 which is shown in section. 



