196 
BLUEFIELDS. 
the exhibition of the stratagem, strikes one at first 
sight. But on reflection, we perceive that this very 
circumstance is but a further display of unerring in- 
stinct ; for the frail pits on which the insect’s success 
depends, would be filled up and effaced by a breath 
of wind, spoiled by a shower of rain, and destroyed, 
with their ingenious architects, by a passing footstep 
of man or beast. The depth of this locality was a 
protection against the first contingency, its inacces- 
sibility precluded the last, while rain was kept off by 
the remaining roof of the building ! 
How inexhaustible are the resources of Divine 
wisdom, when the outgoings of it in the meanest in- 
sects are so wonderful ! 
I took two or three of the grubs into the house, 
and put them into a small box partially filled with 
sand, hoping to witness the construction of the pit- 
fall. They soon began to work, proceeding back- 
ward, and shovelling the sand exactly as described, 
but only in irregular lines, leaving one after it had 
proceeded for some distance, and beginning another ; 
so that they did not make even one complete circle. 
I was called to a distance, however, and the insects 
were thrown away. The species was probably M. 
Leachii, of which I have taken a single specimen 
near Bluefields, the onl}' one I ever met with in a 
perfect state. 
* This rarity of the imago, contrasting with the abundance of the 
larva, of this insect, has been noticed by Guilding in St. Vincents. 
He observes that not a single perfect insect had been found by him 
in a state of liberty, though the larvae swarm under every rock or 
shed calculated to protect their pitfalls from the rain and wind. 
(Z/i/m. Trans, xvi. 47.) 
