Insect Ogres
Everyland’s Nature Club
By
A. Hyatt Verrill
From Everyland magazine, May 1916. Digitized by
Doug Frizzle, Mar. 2012.
While walking along same
sandy country road, on a warm summer's day, look closely in the hottest, sunniest spots and you may find the home
of an insect ogre. The home will
look very commonplace and innocent,
for to your eyes it will appear like a little funnel-shaped pit, an inch or two
in diameter with smooth, steep sides and in the
very centre of the bottom you will see two tiny, black points. But if you
are patient and watch the little
hollow carefully, you will see a very interesting thing. Presently an ant comes scurrying along, all unmindful of the hidden danger in her path, but as she reaches the edge of the
pit the sand slips from beneath her feet. Bravely she struggles to regain
the edge, but, as fast as she
scrambles up, the sand falls from under her and gradually she slides down to the bottom.
Instantly the two sharp points dart
forth and seizing the ant in a
vise-like grip tear her to pieces. Then for the
first time you realize that the
little black points belong to a living creature and that the
hollow in the sand is a cleverly
arranged pitfall.
The insect which builds these traps and which lies in wait for unfortunate passers-by
to tumble into its jaws is known as the
ant-lion. If you should dig out the
ant-lion from his den you would find
him a curious, fat-bodied creature with a humped back, stout flat head and with
two long, curved, strong jaws. If you place him on the
ground he will move backward as rapidly as forward and he will at once commence to dig another
pitfall by throwing up the sand with
his head and jaws, and using them
exactly like a tiny shovel.
This queer chap is the young, or baby ant-lion, and when he is fully
grown he spins a silken ball coated with grains of sand and within this cocoon
he changes to a pupa. In a few weeks the
full-grown ant-lion breaks out from the cocoon, and you would never suspect that this
pretty insect was the same creature
as the savage little ogre who caught
the ant.
The full-grown ant-lion is a
graceful, long-bodied insect with narrow lace-like wings and looks very much
like a small dragon-fly or "darning-needle."
Another
common insect ogre may be found upon
the branches or leaves of plants,
trees, and shrubs. These are tiny black and orange creatures something like the
ant-lions in form and with similar curved, sharp jaws. But unlike the ant-lions they
do not hide in a pitfall but run rapidly about peering into every crevice and
corner. They are very greedy little beasts, always hungry, and are just as
savage and bloodthirsty as their
ant-lion cousins. They do not fear to attack any other
insect they meet, and as they are very strong and powerful they often overpower and devour creatures many times
their own size.
Their favorite prey are the plant-lice or aphids and on this account they are known as aphis-lions and as they are very useful insects they
should always be encouraged. When the
aphis-lions have killed their prey they hold it on the
tips of their jaws and suck the blood through grooves on the
under side of their jaws. Some kinds of aphis-lions make cloaks out of the empty skins of their
victims and then go about,
masquerading as plant-lice, veritable "wolves in sheep's clothing,"
When the
little "lions" have grown to full size they
roll themselves in little round
silken cocoons which look like pearls and within these
beautiful homes they turn to pupæ.
A short time later a tiny
circular door is opened in the
cocoon and a dainty and elegant little insect steps forth. This creature has a
slender green body, delicate pale-green wings, long green feelers and great
lustrous golden eyes. During its sleep the
insect has apparently repented of its bloodthirtsy ways and never disturbs any
other living creature henceforth. In
this form the aphis-lion is known as
the lacewing fly or Golden Eyes and
its most curious habit is the way it
lays its eggs. The mother lacewing
fly knows that if she placed her eggs upon the
surface of the leaves the first baby aphis-lion that hatched out would eat
up all his brothers and sisters
before they broke their tiny egg-shells. This the
golden-eyed mother prevents by
placing each egg upon the top of a
stiff, silken stem half an inch in length. Then, when the
young hatch out, they scramble down
and scamper off without knowing that the
rest of the family is resting, safe
from their
jaws, above their heads.
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