So delicately constructed are the Lepismas, and so seemingly feeble the breath of life which animates their frail houses of clay, that nature has endowed them with qualities of mind and body which eminently fit them for the part they have to play in the world. She has made them lovers of darkness rather than light, endowed them with keenness of vision and hearing truly wonderful, and given them a celerity of movement which enables them to outstrip in speed the fleetest of their insect-enemies, and even to baffle the well-directed efforts of man for their destruction. The silver-coated armor with which they are invested is so glossy and smooth that they can slip into a crevice in the wall or floor with the utmost ease and facility. From their actions it would seem that they were always on the alert, for when peril is imminent they do not run aimlessly about for a place of security, but know just where to find it with the least possible expenditure of time and physical strength. Every nook and cranny of their appropriated domain is as well known to these very humble of God’s creatures as some forest-tract of country to one skilled in wood-craft. Never have I studied the behavior of Lepisma that I have not been deeply impressed with the intelligence of its actions. There have always been displayed a purpose and an aim, which showed as plainly as could be that no blind instinct was the cause of a conduct so rational and human-like.
YOU-EE-UP.
Hardly a person living in a sandy country district can be found who has not seen or heard of the queer little insect called You-ee-up, a name which the books do not give, and of which writers on entomological subjects seem to be ignorant. The learned call him Myrmeleon, or Ant-lion, and very appropriately too, because, like the great king of beasts, he never attacks his prey in the open field, but by stratagem while lying in wait in some hidden retreat or secret covert.
Should you chance, on a warm summer day, where sunny slopes abound on the outskirts of a woods, or by the side of a frequented path or road, look carefully about and soon will you descry a small funnel-like opening, scarce two inches in depth and in width, upon a bare patch of sand in the midst of an ocean of verdure. This little cavity is the intentional work of the larva of the Ant-lion. A very close scrutiny will show, by the presence of a pair of fierce jaws, the Ant-lion at home.
Would you know the ingenious builder? Lift him out tenderly from his burrow of sand, and when you have placed him upon the palm of your wide open hand, note with the most careful exactness the peculiar make-up of his structure, so that in the future you may have little difficulty in recognizing him should you again meet.
His short, flat head, armed with powerful mandibles, heavy-set chest, and large, soft, fleshy abdomen, amply protected on the sides with stiff, bristly hairs, added to his compact, robust form, the forward projection of his front and middle legs, and the backward prolongation of the stronger and less movable hind ones, which eminently adapts them to a backward manner of walking, are characters which so deeply impress, that we cannot fail to call up, when occasion demands, the possessor of so wonderful a mechanism.
YOU-EE-UP IN HIS DEN.
As He Appears in Youth and Old Age.
Now that you have become familiar with the odd creature in form and in mien, set him once more upon his proud realm of sand, and seat yourself on the bank close by to watch and enjoy his curious behavior. In a minute or two his fears will have subsided, and he in control again of his accustomed indifference. See, he moves. Round and round he turns in the loose grey sand, burying himself deeper and deeper, and throwing the grains out from the hole he has made by his twistings, using his short, flat head for a shovel. The sand, as it is thrown over the side of the burrow, forms quite a margin, and when all is completed the Ant-lion sinks himself deep into the bottom of the trap he has digged, leaving only the tips of his mandibles in sight, which are extended and ready to seize any insect that is so luckless as to fall into their reach.
The unfortunate ant that ventures too close to the margin sets the sand off rolling, and it immediately begins to struggle against falling down, but the Ant-lion throws a few shovelfuls of sand against it, and it soon comes tumbling down to the bottom of the funnel, when it is instantly seized between the sharp mandibles in waiting, which, being perforated by slender tubes, enable their blood-thirsty owner to suck out its juices.