THE T,ION-ANT. 
287 
perfect circle ; and the pit itself resembles the inside of an 
inverted funnel. 
The work being thus with great labour finished the insi- 
dious insect places itself in ambush, hiding itself in the 
bottom under the sand in such a manner, that its two horns 
encircle the bottom of the pit. All the sides of this pit-fall 
are made of the most loose and crumbling materials ; so that 
scarcely any insect can climb up that has once got down to 
the bottom. Conscious of this, the lion-ant remains in pa- 
tient expectation, ready to profit by that accident which 
throws some heedless little animal into his den. If then, by 
misfortune, an ant, a wood-louse, or a small caterpillar, walks 
too near the edge of the precipice, the sand gives way be- 
neath them, and they fall to the bottom of the pit, where 
they meet inevitable destruction. The fall of a single grain 
of sand gives the murderer notice at the bottom of his cave ; 
and it never fails to sally forth to seize upon its prey. It 
happens sometimes, however, that the ant or the wood-louse 
is too nimble, and runs up the side of the pit-fail before the 
other can make ready to seize it. The lion-ant has then 
another contrivance, still more wonderful titan the former ; 
for, by means of its broad head and feelers, it has a method 
of throwing up a shower of sand, which falls upon the strug- 
gling captive with tremendous weight, and once more 
crushes it down to the bottom. 
When the prey is reduced to a husk, and nothing but 
the external form remains, the next care of the murderer is 
to remove the body from its cell ; therefore, taking up the 
wasted trunk with its feelers, it throws it, with wonderful 
strength, at least six inches from the edge of its hole; and 
then patiently sets about mending the breaches which its for- 
tifications had received in the last engagement. 
When the lion-ant attains a certain age, in which it is to 
change into another form, it then leaves oil its usual rapa- 
cious habits. 
These animals are produced in autumn, and generally 
live a year, and perhaps two, before they assume a winged 
form. 
When the time of change approaches, if the insect finds 
its little cell convenient, it seeks no other : if it is obliged to 
remove, after furrowing up the sand, it hides itself under it, 
horns and all. It there spins a thread, in the manner of the 
spider ; which being made of a glutinous substance, and 
being humid from the moisture of its body, sticks to the 
little particles of sand among which it is spun : and in pro- 
portion as it is thus excluded, the insect rolls up its web, 
