Title: The animal kingdom, arranged after its organization, forming a natural history of animals, and an introduction to comparative anatomy
Identifier: animalkingdom00cuvi (find matches)
Year: 1854 (1850s)
Authors: Cuvier, Georges, baron, 1769-1832; Blyth, Edward, 1810-1873; Mudie, Robert, 1777-1842; Johnston, George, 1797-1855; Westwood, J. O. (John Obadiah), 1805-1893; Carpenter, William Benjamin, 1813-1885
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: London, W. S. Orr and co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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5?8 INSECTA. pit-fall, by crawling backwards in a spiral direction and throwing' out the sand with its head, and at the bottom of which it stations itself, leaving only its jaws exposed, its body being buried in the sand, and thus waiting patiently until an insect falls to the bottom of the pit, when it is instantly seized by the jaws and sucked to death ; if it endeavours to escape, the Ant Lion showers sand after it, which rarely fails to bring it to the bottom of the pit. The nutritive fluid thus obtained is never converted into excrement, the insect having no orifice analogous to the anus. When full grown, and ready to assume the pupa state, it spins a perfectly round cocoon of a silky matter, the exterior of which it covers with sand. Its spinnerets are placed at the extremity of the body. The perfect insect makes its appearance at the end of fifteen or twenty days, leaving the exuviae of the pupa in the opening it has made in the cocoon. The common European species, M.formicarium, Linn, (which has not, however, been discovered in England), is about an inch long, with the wings transparent, with black veins dotted with white, and with dark spots, one of a whitish colour near the anterior extremity. (The species are very numerous), Ascalaphus, Fab., has the antenna? long, and suddenly terminated by a Fig. 109.-M. formicarium. knob, with the abdomen oblong, oval, and scarcely longer than the thorax. The wings are shorter and broader than in Myrmeleon. Bonnet observed a larva near Geneva similar to that of Myrmeleon, but which neither crawled backwards nor formed a pit. The posterior extremity of its body was furnished with a bifid plate, truncated behind. This larva is probably that of Ascal. italicus, a south of Europe species, which begins to be found in France in the environs of Fontainebleau. (This is probably doubtful, the larva being more likely to be that of Myr. Libelluloides. See my Introd. to Mod. Classif. of Insects, ii. p. 45, in which I have figured a larva of Ascalaphus, and subsequently Mr. Svvainson has figured that of Asc. Macleayanus, from L. Guilding's drawings.) 3. The Hemerohii, Latr., similar to the preceding in the general form of the body and wings, but with filiform antennae and only four palpi. They form the genus Hemerobius, Linn.,— Some of which have the prothorax very small, the wings roof-like, the last joint of the palpi thickest, ovoid, and pointed. The larvae are terrestrial. Hemerobius proper, has the eyes globose and brilliantly metallic, the wings large and deflexed. They fly slowly, and many of them emit a disgusting scent. The females deposit their eggs upon leaves, to the number of ten or twelve, fixing each of them by a long and very slender footstalk. The larvae resemble those of Myrmeleon, but are more elongate, and are wanderers. They feed upon the plant-lice, which they seize with their mandibles, and suck their juices, destroying them very quickly. The pupa is inclosed in a cocoon of close silk, spun from the anus of the larva. Hemerobius (Chrysopa, Leach,) Perla, Linn., is pale yellowish-green, with golden eyes, transparent wings, and green nerves. (A common species in this country). Osmylus, Leach, is composed of those species which possess three ocelli, of which the preceding are destitute. H. maculatus, Fabr., (a local British species, of large size). Nymphes, Leach, founded upon an Australian species, has the same character, but the antennae are filiform and shorter. (N. myrmeleonides, Leach.) The others have the first segment of the thorax large and corselet-like, the wings generally carried flat on the back, and the palpi filiform, with the terminal segment conical or nearly cylindric, and often shorter than the preceding. Their larvae are aquatic. Semblis, Fabr., is composed of the genera Corydalis, Chauliodes, and Sialis, Latr. Corydalis, is distinguished by the mandibles, which are very large and like horns in the males. (C. cornula, a North American insect.) Chauliodes, Latr., has the antennae pectinated; and Sialis, has ordinary-sized mandibles, and the antennae are simple and the wings roof-like. S. lutarius, Linn., (the May-fly, a well-known bait for anglers). The larva lives in the water, and creeps or swims slowly, like those of the Ephemerae : it has false branchiae at the sides of the abdomen, aud the tail is elongated into a point; but it changes into an inactive pupa. 4. Another division, that of the Termitince, is composed of Neuroptera which undergo demi-meta- morphoses, all being terrestrial, active, carnivorous or omnivorous, in all their stages. If we except Mantispa, (distinct from all the insects of the order in the form of the fore-legs, resembling those of Mantis), the tarsi have at most four joints, which distinguishes them from the preceding genera of the same family. The mandibles are always strong and horny, the hind wings are of the size of the fore wings, and without folds, or are smaller. Some have from five to three joints in the tarsi, the labial palpi exserted and distinct, and the an- tennae multiaiticulate. Mantispa, Illig., has five joints in all the tarsi; the fore-legs formed as in Mantis ; the antenna; are very short,

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