The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-28
A WEE MONSTER.
Digs Pits for the Ants That Come
within His Reach.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
one of the most fierce of all the insect
tribe is the ant Ion This bitter enemy Of
the ants IS a monster in FORM but is hard
~ more than half an inch long. It's body
is fiat and covered with little punches Of
spiny hairs II has six legs that look fee-
BILE enough but IL has a head and pair Of
jaws that are as terrible as those of an
alligator.
Unable TO move rapidly or TO fly, the ant
Hon gains It's food by It's wisdom. 1t makes
pitfalls in the sand down which the ants
slide TO certain death. For the purpose OF
digging this trap It hunts a spot OF loose
and dry sand. under the shelter of a ledge
or old wall or al the foot OF tree. In
such places ants are sure to be running
about.
Having found a place for the pitfall the
ant lion makes in The sand a lltle roi.ssd
ditch about TWO inches across. Placing IL
self on the inside Of this circle it thrusts
the hind part Of its body under the sand.
Using one Of his fore legs as a shovel IL
puts q load of sand on It's head, which Is
square and fiat. Then 1t gives It's head q
jerk which losses the sand to a distance
OF several inches outside the circle. This
process Is done over the insect always
moving BACKWARD untn another furroW Is
made. Turning and moving backward In
the other direction the third furrow is
made inside the second circle. This is done
over until the ant lion reaches the center
of the funnel-like pit thus formed. In shoy-
cling out the sand the insect always digs
at the inner side OF the circle and makes
the hole always deeper. If the ant lion
finds a pebble IN the way il carefully rolls
IL onto It's back and backs out of the nit
with IT, Failing in This, IL digs hole and
buries the troublesome stone. When the
! r.tt ia ID ab fryO txl
the center, at which spot the ant ZION takes
It's place, burying all but It's terrible jaws
from view
Pretty soon an ant In search of food
reaches the pit, looks down. sees two odd
| looking prongs IN the bottom and starts %
find out what they are. Then the sand be-
gins 10 give way and the scared ant tries
10 crawl out. II II seems about to do this
the ant lion loads rs head with sand and
snaps the sand al the ant This is done
80 quickly that the poor ami is struck by
/ ahoWer after shower Of sand and knocked
| back into the pit. After the ant ZION has
supped on The juices Of the ant It losses
the carcass out of the pit, fixes whatever
| damages may have been done In the SAD
| turo and awaits another ant The act
| lion viii not take a dead Insect II wants
/ TO do its own killing
/ After TWO years of this tricky life this
/ oere Of the oft makes for Itself a cocoon
OF sand fastened toge her and lined with
| silk Of line texture and color On the out
/ side thls cocoon looks like littfe ball -
sand about naf an inch through. Al tho
4 cod Of Two months the cocoon 10 torn open
and q large and beautiful ny, looking like
a dragon ny. crawls Qua and unfolds lts
/ damp wings. Thus the fierce creature OF
! ihe plfau becomes n beautiful dandy Of
! the insect word which His in the sun
/ shine % few days and dies after having
laid some eggs thgt wa hatch QUE more
| ana lioIs.