I'koto by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regents Park. TERMITE.

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

TERMITES’ NESTS IN QUEENSLAND.

These nests are sometimes 14 or 15 feet high.

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

TERMITES’ NEST IN QUEENSLAND.

The smaller nests, when opened and emptied, are used by the natives as ovens.

697

of the World The Living Animals698

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

TERMITES AT WORK.

This shows one of the most destructive of wood-eating insects, nearly of the natural size.

In a state of nature termites are undoubtedly beneficial. They are scavengers, in fact, whose duty it is to remove the dead and decaying wood which would otherwise encumber the ground for many years. But in civilised districts they are extremely mischievous, books, furniture, and all the woodwork of houses being often completely destroyed by them before their presence is even suspected.

The second division of the order also forms two well-marked groups namely, the Flat-winged Insects, in which the wings are fully spread, horizontally or obliquely, even in repose, and the Hairy-winged Insects, in which those organs can be folded longitudinally, like the joints of a fan. is a familiar example. The Of the former group, the ANT-LION of Southern Europe perfect insect is seldom seen, owing to its nocturnal habits. In appearance it is not unlike a small and delicately built dragon-fly, with a yellowish head, a black body, and transparent wings marbled with brownish spots. The larva, however, is terrestrial, and lives in a funnel-shaped pitfall which it scoops out in the sand, always working backwards in a spiral direction, and jerking out the sand with its broad head in an almost continuous shower. Having completed the excavation, it buries itself at the bottom with merely the tips of its jaws appearing above the surface, and there waits for ants or other small creatures to fall down the sloping sides, accelerating their descent, if need be, by flinging sand upon them. The size of the pit varies with that of the insect, the fully grown grub digging down to the depth of about 2 inches, while the cavity is about 3 inches in diameter.

The mouth of the ant-lion grub is very curiously constructed, the jaws lying in a groove on the inner margin of the mandibles, or jaws proper; so that while an insect is held prisoner by the latter, the former can be employed in sucking its juices. When the body of the victim has been completely drained, the empty skin is thrown out of the pit by a jerk of the head. it cuts its way The chrysalis, too, is remarkable for possessing jaws, by means of which

Nerve-winged or Lace-winged Insects 699 out of the cocoon which it made, when a larva, by spinning grains of sand together with silken threads. In some South European and African insects allied to the ant-lions the hind wings are modified into extremely long and slender shafts, slightly expanded at the extremities. In an Indian species belonging to a related genus these wings are scarcely more than threads, and bear a superficial resemblance to the attenuated limbs of certain gnats. One group, of which a Japanese species is a well-known representative, is characterised by the long, slender, and clubbed antennse. The MANTIS-FLIES are remarkable for the structure of the fore limbs, which are almost exactly similar in character to those of the praying-mantis. The upper segment of the leg is so lengthened as to look like an additional joint; the lower surface of the thigh is armed with a number of long, sharp spines; and the tibia, or lower part of the leg, Photo by W. Sat'Me-Kent, F.Z.S.] _Milford-on-Sea. TEKMITKS' NEST. folds closely down upon it, after the Showing one year's reconstruction to nest, of which the photographer made a section. manner of the blade of a clasp-knife. These limbs are used for seizing, an insect which is once grasped being effectually prevented by the spines from breaking away.

The larvae of these insects are parasitic in the nests of tree-wasps and spiders, and have the peculiarity of practically losing their limbs as they approach maturity; so that while at first they are free and active, they afterwards become almost as helpless as those of many beetles. One species is found in Southern Europe, the remainder being widely distributed over the hotter regions of the globe. Allied to the Mantis-flies are the curious SNAKE- FLIES, or CAMEL-FLIES. In these insects the head is very large, and is attached to the thorax, or central division of the body, by a long and distinct neck, which allows it great freedom of motion. The neck is usually raised and the head bent down, giving to the insect a remarkably snake-like appearance. These flies are predaceous in their habits, and the four British species may be found on the banks of ponds and small streams, where they can obtain insect-victims in plenty. The larvae live beneath the

Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regents Park. bark of trees, and wriggle about in a singularly SCORPION-FLY. serpentine fashion. Remarkable for the curious structure of the end of the body. Equally curious in a different way are the SCORPION-FLIES, in which the body is prolonged into a slender three-jointed process, the extremity of which, in the male, is furnished with a pair of curved forceps. In spite of their somewhat formidable appearance these insects are perfectly harmless. They are very plentiful almost everywhere, and may be found in numbers on any sunny summer morning resting on the herbage on hedge-banks, or running actively about on the leaves of low bushes. Like the Snake-flies, they are predaceous, feeding

Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regents Park. SCORPION-FLY.

7OO The Living Animals of the World

entirely upon other insects, and often attacking those which are bigger and apparently stronger than themselves. The eggs are laid underground, and the grubs, which are entirely subterranean in their habits, feed upon decomposing vegetable matter. When fully fed, they burrow still deeper into the ground, and there change into pupae, from which the perfect insects emerge about a fortnight later. In the common English species the body is shining black, and the legs are yellow, while the transparent wings are marked with brown spots, which generally form three broken transverse bands. The insect is about half an inch in length.

Certain allied insects have very slender bodies and long legs, and might easily be mistaken "for " daddy-long-legs by any one who failed to notice the presence of two pairs of wings. A species found in Southern Europe is reddish yellow in colour, with a brown thorax and yellowish wings. It has a curious habit of suspending itself from a twig by its fore legs, and seizing any flying insect which may come within reach with the middle and hinder pairs.

Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Regent's Park.

ADULT FORM OP ANT-LION.

The grub of this insect lives in small pits in sandy places, and feeds upon the ants, etc., which roll down the sloping sides.

Allied to the foregoing is the extraordinary little snow-insect, which makes its appearance in mid-winter, and may even be found crawling on the surface of snow. In general appearance it is not unlike a larval grasshopper, with very long, slender legs, and antennae of about the same length as the body. There is also a well-developed beak. The wings are perfectlyquite rudimentary in the female, while even in the male they are so short as to be useless for flight. The insect is remarkably active, nevertheless, and possesses the power of leaping, although the hinder thighs are not developed in any great degree. In colour it is metallic green, with the beak, antennae, legs, wings, and ovipositor rusty red. It is not uncommon in the north of England and Scotland.

Far more generally distributed is the LACEWING-FLY, or GOLDEN-EYE, which may be seen almost anywhere on warm summer evenings flitting slowly to and fro in the twilight. During the daytime it may often be found resting upon fences, or sitting on the leaves of low

Nerve^winged or Lace^winged Insects 701

plants. In colour it is pale green, with a peculiar milky appearance, and the eyes glow as though lighted by an inward fire. The wings are so closely and elaborately veined that they look like a piece of the most delicate lace-work. It is not advisable to handle the insect, for, although perfectly harmless, it possesses the power of pouring out from its body a liquid of the most horrible odour, which clings to the fingers in spite of repeated ablutions.

The life-history of the lacewing-fly is very curious. When the maternal insect lays her eggs, she first deposits a drop of a highly glutinous fluid upon a leaf or slender twig, and then, with an upward jerk of her long body, draws it out into a slender thread. On contact with the air this thread immediately hardens, and just as she releases her hold the fly attaches a single egg to the tip. In this way 200 or 300 eggs are laid together in a little cluster, which looks just like a tiny patch of moss. In the earlier botanical manuals, indeed, it was actually named, figured, and described as a moss.

The grubs which hatch out from these eggs feed upon plant-lice, of which they devour vast numbers, draining the juices by means of their hollow jaws, and then fastening the empty skins on their own backs, as an American Indian might decorate himself with the scalps of his victims. Owing to this singular habit, the grub becomes perfectly unrecognis-able after the first few days of its life, only the jaws and feet being visible beneath the pile of dry skins. When fully fed, it changes to the pupal condition in a silken cocoon, which it attaches to a leaf, and the perfect insect makes its appearance in the course of a few days.

The ALDER-FLIES, in general appearance, are not unlike caddis-flies, but may easily be distinguished by the fact that the wings are not longitudinally folded while at rest. They are very abundant in the neighbourhood of ponds and small streams, where they may be seen flying slowly and heavily, or resting on low herbage or the foliage of trees and bushes. The female insect lays her eggs in clusters of 300 or 400 on the leaves of water-plants, and the little grubs make their way down into the water immediately on hatching out, where they creep about on the mud at the bottom in search of the tiny creatures on Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park. which they feed. When full-grown, they are about an LARGE CADDIS-FLY. inch and a'inch in length. They then leave the water and bury The largest British species measures about an themselves in the earth, where they change to pupae, half across the wings. the perfect insects emerging in June or July.

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