Lesson LXXXVIII

The Ant-Lion

Leading thought—The ant-lion, or “doodle-bug” makes a little pit in the sand with very steep sides, and hidden at the bottom of it, waits for ants to tumble in to be seized by its waiting jaws. Later the ant-lion changes to a beautiful insect with gauzy wings, resembling a small dragon-fly.

Method—The pupils should see the ant-lion pits in their natural situations, but the insects may be studied in the schoolroom. Some of the ant-lions may be dug out of their pits and placed in a dish of sand. They will soon make their pits, and may be watched during this interesting process. It is hardly advisable to try to rear these insects, as they may require two or three years for development.

Observations—1. Where were the ant-lion pits out of doors? Were they in a windy place? Were they in a place protected from storms? In what kind of soil were they made?

2. Measure one of the pits. How broad across, and how deep? Are all the pits of the same size? Why?

3. What can you see as you look down into the ant-lion’s pit? Roll a tiny pebble in and see what happens? Watch until an ant comes hurrying along and slips into the pit. What happens then? As she struggles to get out how is she knocked back in? What happens to her if she falls to the bottom?

4. Take a trowel and dig out the doodle-bug. What is the shape of its body? What part of the insect did you see at the bottom of the pit? Do you know that these great sickle-shaped jaws are hollow tubes for sucking blood? Does the ant-lion eat anything except the blood of its victim?

5. Can you see that the ant-lion moves backward more easily than forward? How are its hind legs formed to help push it backward? How does this help the ant-lion in holding its prey? How does the big awkward body of the ant-lion help to hold it in place at the bottom of the pit when it seizes an ant in its jaws?

6. What shape is the ant-lion’s head? How does it use this head in taking its prey? In digging its pit?

7. Take a doodle-bug to the schoolroom, place it in a dish of sand, covered with glass, and watch it build its pit.

8. Read in the entomological books about the cocoon of the ant-lion and what the adult looks like, and then write an ant-lion autobiography.

Supplementary reading—Insect Stories, Kellogg, “The True Story of Morrowbie Jukes.”