Economic entomology for the farmer and the fruit grower, and for use as a text-book in agricultural schools and colleges; economicentomolo00smit Year: 1906 76 A A' ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. Fig. 41. s;incl and a lunible into the jaws of the enemy. Should the ant rec()\cr a looting before reaching the bottom, a shower of sand, sent by the vigilant larva below, over- whelms and brings it down to its death. When the juices are exhausted, the empty shell is thrown tnit and the pit is repaired for other victims. Sometimes pits are made in saw-dust or friable leal mold and some make no pits at all. The
Economic entomology for the farmer and the fruit grower, and for use as a text-book in agricultural schools and colleges; economicentomolo00smit Year: 1906 76 A A' ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. Fig. 41. s;incl and a lunible into the jaws of the enemy. Should the ant rec()\cr a looting before reaching the bottom, a shower of sand, sent by the vigilant larva below, over- whelms and brings it down to its death. When the juices are exhausted, the empty shell is thrown tnit and the pit is repaired for other victims. Sometimes pits are made in saw-dust or friable leal mold and some make no pits at all. The adults are of two rather dis- tinct series : the first with short antenn;:e which thicken rather gradually toward the tip, including Myrmeleo ; the second with long, slender antennae, enlarging suddenly into a flattened cluli. The head is larger and the body more robust, covered with stiff bristly hair, giving the insects a fierce appear- ance. The most common genus is Ascalaphiis, and the larval habits are not known, though it is probable, from what we learn of foreign species, that thcv do not build pits or traps. Though interesting, the family is of no economic importance. An odd laniilv is the Ma)itispidir, so named from the peculiar resemblance which they bear to the Orthopterous genus A/antis. The species are not common, and are easily recognized by the enormously developed forelegs, which are fitted for grasping, and are inserted into a long and slender prothorax. They are pre- daceous, while their larvae are parasitic in the egg-sacs of spiders. The eggs are laid on stalks, as with the 'lace-wings,' and the slender larvce that hatch from them live through the winter with- out food, becoming active again in spring, when they seek the Myrmeleo species.—The adult above; the larva in its pit, which is shown in section.
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