NEUROPTERA. 
j6 5 
the Mediterranean Sea. These insects have elongated and narrow, or almost linear, 
hind-wings, often widened out a little before the tip. The ant-lions ( Myrmeleontidce ) 
may be recognised by their clubbed antennae, and their long and closely reticulated 
wings, rounded off to an obtuse point at the extremity. 
Of the European species the common ant-lion {My r met eon formicarius ) is one 
of the best known. It lives in pine-woods. The winged insect, which may be 
seen in July and September, rests during the clay clinging to a plant, with its 
wings spread like a roof over the hind-part of its body. At sunset it becomes 
active, and executes a slow flight in its search after food or a mate. The larva, 
to which the name ant-lion properly belongs, has the habit of making pitfalls 
to entrap its prey. It is somewhat oval in the shape of its hind-body, and has 
a narrow prothorax resembling a neck, and a rather big head, provided with a 
pair of long, curved, and sharply pointed mandibles, each of which has three teeth 
on the inner side. Its body is arched up in the middle, and has wart-like pro¬ 
tuberances, thickly covered with hairs, at the sides. When about to make a. pit, 
LACE-WING FLIES. 
1, Chrysopa vulgaris ; 2, The tip of its wing ; 3, Larva ; 4, Pupa ; 5, 6, Cocoon ; 7, Egg : 8, Hemerobms hirtus. 
it selects a dry and sandy spot, and begins by tracing out a circular furrow to 
mark its outer limit. Placing itself inside the circle, it buries its abdomen in the 
sand, and then proceeds with the work of excavation. With one of its fore-legs it 
shovels the sand on to its large flat head, to which it then gives a sudden jerk, and 
sends the sand out over the border. It repeats this process, walking backwards 
and maintaining a spiral course all the while, until finally it reaches the centre of 
the cavity. Sometimes, however, instead of continuing to work altogether in one 
direction, it turns round and works the opposite way, thus giving relief to the 
leg which had previously been employed. And, as the sand is always taken from 
the inner side, it is the leg on that side which is always used as a shovel. The pit, 
when completed, is shaped like the mouth of a funnel, being wide above and 
gradually narrowed to the bottom. Its size is adapted to the size of the larva, 
which when full grown makes a pit about two inches deep, and three inches wide 
at the top. Buried in the sand at the bottom, with only its antennas and the tips of 
its mandibles projecting, the ant-lion waits until an ant or some other creature falls 
down the loose sides of the pit, when it is immediately seized with the pincer-like 
jaws, and retained until all the juices of its body have been sucked out, and nothing 
left but the dry and shrivelled skin. The latter is cast outside the pit, and the 
