Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1873 — The Ant Lion. [ARTICLE]

The Ant Lion.

In a late number of the American Naturalist, Mr. J. 11. Emerton describes at length the peculiar habits and structure of the ant lion ( Myrmelco immaculatus). It appears that this ravenous little insect is endowed by nature with superior intelligence, and displays great skill and cunning in the entrapping and securing of its prey;- Having determined upon a suitable rite, generally a clear, sandy space under the shade of some shrub or boulder, it begins the construction of a miniature pitfall by first thrusting its long jaws and flat head underneath the grains of sand, and then by a sudden upward jerk, tossing them several ihclies beyond the edge of the pit. This operation is repeated until a funnel-shaped hole is excavated, the sides of which are as steep as the shifting nature of the sand will allow. When completed, the ingenious little builder conceals his body at the bottom, leaving only the extended jaws exposed. Here he awaits patiently until the unconscious victim, generally some smaller insect, approaches the edge of the ambuscade, When the disturbance of the sand above warns the watcheT below, and he begins to toss up the eartli from beneath the unwary ant or beetle, thus deepening the hole, and causing the sand on the shelving sides to slide down toward the centre, bearing with it the prey to within reach of the extended jaws. The lower sides of these are provided with tubular channels, that serve as ducts to convey the blood of the victim to the month of tho captor! After sucking the body dry, the carcass is tossed beyond the limits of the- pit, which is at once repaired, and made reaiy for the approach of a second visitor.

—E. E. -Schultz, Esq., arrived in this city to-day from Montana, in charge of the Presidential--? desk, which is to be placed in the White House tor the use of the President. It weighs twenty-thr.ee hundred pounds, anj, is eleven feet h|gh. As a work it is unique. It is made of four thousand pieces ’of cedar wood, collected from the Rocky Mountain regions. There is not a nail nor screw in its entire making up. This ingenious piece of work is now at the Utah House, and will be forwarded to the National Capital at an early moment," —Ogden Junction.