INSECTS. 481 
of funnel-shaped hole in loose earth or sand, and placing 
himself at the bottom of it, waits there with the utmost 
patience for several days, till an incautious ant or giddy 
fly falls into the deathful pit. Then all the skill of the 
insect is put in requisition ; he throws out, by the shaking 
of his large jaws, a great quantity of sand upon and 
above the insect, to prevent its climbing up the steep 
sides of his hole ; and when the prey appears strong and 
nimble, he gives such a general commotion, that the 
whole construction crumbles down, and the unfortunate 
insect, overwhelmed with the ruins, falls into the jaws of 
the Ant-lion, which open as a pair of forceps. When 
the Ant-lion has sucked out the blood and inside of his 
prey, he takes it upon his head, and, by a sudden jerk, 
throws the carcase to a distance from his abode. When 
the larva has attained its full size, it spins for itself a 
cocoon of white shining silk, with an external covering 
of sand. In about three weeks there bursts from this 
pupa case a slender-waisted winged insect, which, after 
fluttering about for a few weeks, performing the duty of 
nature, and depositing eggs in the sand, resigns its life. 
The winged insect resembles a beautiful dragon-fly ; it 
has a head of a chestnut colour ; the body is of a pearly 
grey, the legs short, and the wings, which resemble the 
finest lace, are beautifully marked with dark lines and 
spots. This fly is often seen fluttering about the sides of 
roads and dry banks exposed to the east, in the months of 
June and July ; it continues for a little time, and then 
entirely disappears. The Ant-lion is very rare in this 
country ; but in France and Italy there is not a bank on 
the sides of a public road, or a sandy ridge at the foot of 
an old wall, which does not harbour a great number of 
these insects. 
