186 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
scratches and lines of brown and black, as if done with a 
pen”_Here comes Master “Harry T. W.,” who wishes 
me to tell him 
ALL ABOUT ANT-LIONS, 
and where he can find them. 1 have seen Ant-lions, Mas¬ 
ter Harry, but I really know very little about them. When 
I was a youngster, I lived not very far from the sea; we 
children were sometimes taken to the beach for a holiday, 
and lean recollect seeing the pits of the Ant-lions in the 
fine dry sand on the beach, so far back, that the tide 
would not reach them. I was too young to study them, 
and, as I do not find that the books on American insects 
have much to say about Ant-lions, give you on page 185 
an engraving from a French work, which will show you 
what to look for. Ant-lions are plenty in Southern Eu¬ 
rope and other warm countries, including our Southern 
States; though ours are not precisely the same as the 
others, they have similar habits. Some of ours are 
found, though not frequently, as far north as Massachu¬ 
setts. To understand about the Ant-lion, you must know 
that it passes a part of its life as a larva or grub, and 
then changes to the perfect or winged insect, just as a 
butterfly makes its growth as a caterpillar, (the larva,) 
and then becomes a beautiful winged insect. The per¬ 
fect Ant-lions have four long and delicate wings, and in 
their general appearance (as shown in the picture) are 
much like the Dragon-flies, also called Mosquito-hawks 
and “Darning-needles”—which, I suppose, you know 
very well. Its larva is not much like a caterpillar, but is 
an oval, bug-looking fellow, about half an inch long, and 
of a grayish, sandy color. One of these is shown on the 
ground in the engraving; the most striking thing about 
it is its pair of long and powerful jaws, or pincers, with 
which it can hold other insects, while it feeds upon 
their juices—provided it can catch them. But the 
Ant-lion is very slow on its small weak legs, and 
would have but little chance to use its nippers if it had 
to chase its food. What it lacks in speed, it makes up 
in strength and cunning. It selects a place in the loose 
sand, and soon wriggles out a pit, a funnel-like hollow, 
and hides itself at the bottom; being covered with sand, 
all but its head—it waits. When another insect comes 
along, which is very likely to be an ant, as they are very 
curious, and reaching the edge of the pit, looks in to see 
what is there, the loose sand gives way under its weight, 
and down the poor thing goes to the bottom, and into 
the jaws of the Ant-lion, which sucks it dry, throws its 
skin, by a jerk, far beyond the pit, and sets itself as a 
part of the trap again. When the insect is large, and 
likely to get away, the Ant-lion does not tackle it at first, 
but throws such a shower of sand that, its prey is dis¬ 
abled. The Ant-lion lives in this way for two years, and 
when it has made its growth, it spins a cocoon and goes 
to rest, as a chrysalis, for a few weeks, and then comes 
out as the winged insect, which will lay eggs to produce 
more Ant-lions. You must not think that the Ant-lion 
has it all its own way; sometimes a big insect-eating bee¬ 
tle calls in, when it is not the Ant-lion that makes the 
meal—but the other. I hope you may find some Ant- 
lions in New Jersey, and tell us about them. You will 
only find their traps where the sand is fine, dry, and 
loose; such places are found along the margins of 
streams and ponds, and on the sea-shore—The father 
of one of our boys writes me that the youngster has 
A KALEIDOSCOPE, 
and while be gets much amusement from it, the father 
thinks that he will enjoy it all the more if I will tell him 
all about it. It is very difficult to tell all about it in such 
terms as the young man will understand, but I can give 
him some idea of it. The instrument was invented early 
in the last century, and was called Kaleidoscope from 
three Greek words, meaning to see beautiful forms. It 
Fig. 2.—KALEIDOSCOPE. 
was not scientifically studied until early in the present 
century. It is made of two mirrors placed in a Y shape 
in a tube, as shown in the diagram, figure 2. These mir¬ 
rors are of glass, painted black on the back, and joined 
together at one edge by a strip of cloth glued to them. 
If the mirrors are rightly placed, any small object placed 
at one end, and looked at from the other end, will 
be multiplied several times. The mirrors are placed in 
the tube, which has at one end a hole to look through. 
They are a little shorter than the tube, and at the oppo¬ 
site end from the eye-hole, a circular piece of glass is 
placed against the ends of the mirrors, and over this a 
cap, usually having a piece of ground glass, a small space 
—i or ) an inch being left between the two glasses. In 
this space are put bits of colored glass, glass-beads, bits 
of straight and twisted wire and other things; these are 
all loose, and move freely, so that they can change their 
places every time the tube is turned. Whatever is in the 
space between the two mirrors will be reflected 10 to 20 
times. Thus a straight piece of wire will look like a 
many-sided figure; one bead will appear as many beads, 
and the most irregular things, being multiplied or re¬ 
peated, will appear in regular figures of great beauty. 
The only nice point is fixing upon how far apart the mir¬ 
rors shall be, or, the older youngsters will understand it 
if I say the angle they form. They must form an angle 
which, when multiplied, will make 360. Thus if the 
glasses are at an angle of 86°, the objects will be multi¬ 
plied 10 times, (36x10=360). If the angle is 18°, they 
will be repeated 20 times, (18X20=360), and so on for 
other angles. How to measure the angles can not be ex¬ 
plained here, but unless they are exact, the figures will 
not be regular. Did you ever try to make a 
PIANO KALEIDOSCOPE ? 
It is a very pretty amusement, and several can enjoy it 
at the same time. You use the parts of a piano-cover, 
which is usually highly polished, for a mirror. The part 
of the cover which comes down in front, answering for 
one mirror, and that to which it is hinged for the other. 
You prop the movable part of the cover with books, or in 
some other way, so that it will form one of the angles I 
have mentioned. You can hit it near enough after a trial 
or two. You then cover the open space with the piano- 
cover, or shawls, or any thing else that will shut out the 
light from between your two mirrors. At one end, the 
show end, you need a bright lamp, and then, instead of 
glass and beads, you will use any bright ribbons, 
strong-colored fabrics of any kind, such as tidies, neck¬ 
ties, etc., and various shining silver, or brass, or glass 
articles. One person holds these things close to the 
show end, but so that the light will fall upon them in full 
force, while the spectator (or several of them) looks in at 
the other end. The articles should be moved and turned 
slowly, to cause the figures to change. A little, practice 
will teach you to manage a very pretty exhibition. 
VEGETABLE IVOBT. 
Otto E., N. J., has read something about Vegetable 
Ivory ; he thought that all Ivory was from elephants, and 
wishes to know about it. True Ivory is the tusk of the 
Fig. S. —IVOBY NUT. 
elephant, but other hard, and close-grained kinds of bone, 
such as whale’s teeth and walrus’ tusks, are called by 
that name and put to the same uses. Vegetable Ivory, 
which has come into general use within the last 25 or 30 
years, is the seed of a tree closely related to the palms, 
which is a native of Central and South America, and is 
known in commerce as Ivory-nuts. These seeds are of 
the shape shown in the engraving, and that gives about 
the average size. They are packed closely in a rough, 
black shell or pod, as big as a man’s head; this being very 
heavy, is borne so near the root of the plant that it lies 
upon the ground. Each seed has a hard, brittle, outer 
shell, partly broken away in the engraving. When young 
these seeds are soft and milky, but when ripe the “ meat” 
is very fine grained and hard, almost as hard as ivory. It 
is easily told from real ivory as it is of a different kind of 
white; ivory is yellowish-white, while this is blueish- 
white and more transparent than ivory. As the seeds 
are small, as compared with an elephant’s tusk, and have 
a small hollow place in the center, they can not be put to 
very many uses. Small knobs, parasol handles, and 
such wares are made from them, and they are used for 
making little spools, silk-winders, and similar trinkets. 
Aunt Sue’s Puzzle-Box, 
LESSON NO 2, 
to the grown folks who wish to be instructed in puzzle- 
making. 
“ 1 don’t know what you mean by s concealed fish,’ 
4 concealed fruit,’ etc.,” said a gentleman the other day. 
“ Suppose you tell ns all about it.” 
Well, to “ conceal ” a word, you must hide it in a closet 
made of two or three words, or within a longer word. 
Now, suppose X wanted to conceal a “shark,” I think of 
words ending in s, and beginning with 14 hark,” or end¬ 
ing in “ sh,” and beginning with “ ark.” 
For instance, “ Oh ! Thomas, hark / there is the rising 
belli” You will find the shark “hidden” in the two 
words “Thomas hark 1” Or, if we say “Ohl I wish 
Arkansas were not so far away,”—you will find it con¬ 
cealed in the two words—“ wish Arkansas.” I will hide 
an animal in the next four words—" the sixteenth or seven¬ 
teenth Now, trace the letters regularly by five or six at 
9 , 21 , 45 , 8 . 12 , 15 , 3 , 13 , 17 , 22 , 10 . 
No. 460.—An Illustrated Enigma. — A very 
simple and easy illustrated numerical enigma for the lit¬ 
tle ones. It is composed of 23 letters, and if you get the 
items right, you will know what the whole is, 
a time, beginning with the first, thus: “thesix”— 
“ hesixt”—“esixte” ; nothing there that looks much 
like “ an animal ” 1 Well, we go on until we get to 
“ thors “ horse ”: ah 1 there it is. 
It is all very well to be entertained by these puzzles, 
and to pass a pleasant evening in solving or mailing 
them, but if you can add instruction to amusement, do. 
When concealing anything, let it be something worth 
finding. Geographical names are good for such use, as 
it tends to fix the names and location of places in the 
mind. Rare birds,’ beasts, flowers, or plants, are useful, 
as they have a tendency to send those who make or who 
try to solve the puzzle to, books of, reference. Now, 
search the following sentences for the hidden words. 
HIDDEN COUNTIES IN OHIO. 
1. That is a very dark emerald. 
2. It is trimmed in an elegant manner. 
3. I have found it difficult to make all ends meet. 
4. He sat down on a log and began to whistle. 
5. I am going away next week. 
6. Take care, that is a pretty cross dog 1 
7. I met Flora in the street. 
HIDDEN DEITIES. 
1. Pretty roses. 
2. What a large apple ! 
3. I owe you ten dollars. 
4. Shall I not pay you now f 
5. Better late than never. 
6. Tobacco must be pretty cheap. 
7. I had some in a basket. 
8. It is neither ornamental nor useful. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE MARCH NUMBER. 
Syncopations.— 1. Pine, pie. 2. Bread, brad. 3. Cord, 
cod. 4. Pearl, peal. 5. Stream, steam. 6. Horse, hose. 7. 
" ' - " Ac 
Rood, rod. 8. Acre, ace. 
Double Aobostios. 
1.—A— lmon —D 
F— uchsi —A 
R— ahwa —Y 
I— nconsisten—T 
C— air —O 
A- gal -N 
2.—J— acobini—C 
A— w —L 
C- hil -I 
K— ora —17 
S— mel —T 
O— rinoc —O 
N— inetee —N 
Numerical Enigma. — And he that overcometh and 
keepeth my works unto the'end, to Mm will I give power 
over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. 
Anagkams— 1. Encroachments. 2. Interlocutor. 3. Acro¬ 
batic. 4. Inaugural. 5. Manufacturers. 6. Cultivators. 7. 
Vouchers. 8. Reconciles. 9.Interpenetrated. 10.Championed. 
Puzzle, No. 1,—London. 
Positives and Compakatives.—1. Show, shower. 2. But, 
butter. 3. Ring, wringer. 4. Ode, odor. 5. Stag, stagger. 
6. Flow, flower. 
Puzzle, No. 2., 
HA N N A H 
JO S E P H 
D O R C A S 
O S W A L D 
BUN ICE 
E U G E N E 
Thanks for letters, puzzles, 
V R W “ Vntmoff ” W J 
Diagonal. 
HORACE. 
(A. L. S. sends 15 different, 
but correct answers to this 
puzzle.) 
T. M. Clark G.B., J. 
!. V., “ Nutmeg,” W. J. F., Oriole, S. S. D., Belle, 
Jimmie, Mrs. L. L., and E. L. M. 
Send communications intended for Aunt Sue, to Box 111, 
P. 0., Brooklyn, N. 7., and hot to 245 Broadway. 
