large size, is plentiful about the mountain streamlets.]

_The Ant-lion_.--Of the ant-lion, whose larvae have earned a bad renown
from their predaceous ingenuity, Ceylon has, at least, four species,
which seem peculiar to the island.[1] This singular creature,
preparatory to its pupal transformation, contrives to excavate a conical
pitfall in the dust to the depth of about an inch, in the bottom of
which it conceals itself, exposing only its open mandibles above the
surface; and here every ant and soft-bodied insect which, curiosity
tempts to descend, or accident may precipitate into the trap, is
ruthlessly seized and devoured by its ambushed inhabitant.

[Footnote 1: _Palpares contrarius_, Walker; _Myrmeleon gravis_, Walker;
_M. dirus_, Walker; _M. barbarus_, Walker.]

_The White Ant_--But of the insects of this order the most noted are the
_white ants_ or termites (which are ants only by a misnomer). They are,
unfortunately, at once ubiquitous and innumerable in every spot where
the climate is not too chilly, or the soil too sandy, for them to
construct their domed edifices.

These they raise from a considerable depth under ground, excavating the
clay with their mandibles, and moistening it with tenacious saliva[1]
until it assume the appearance, and almost the consistency, of
sandstone. So delicate is the trituration to which they subject this
material, that the goldsmiths of Ceylon employ the powdered clay of the
ant hills in preference to all other substances in the preparation of
crucibles and moulds for their finer castings; and KNOX says, in his
time, "the people used this clay to make their earthen gods of, it is so
pure and fine."[2] These structures the termites erect with such
perseverance and durability that they frequently rise to the height of
ten or twelve feet from the ground, with a corresponding diameter. They
are so firm in their texture that the weight of a horse makes no
apparent indentation on their solidity; and even the intense rains of
the monsoon, which no cement or mortar can long resist, fail to
penetrate the surface or substance of an ant hill.[3]

[Footnote 1: It becomes an interesting question whence the termites
derive the large supplies of moisture with which they not only temper
the clay for the construction of their long covered-ways above ground,
but for keeping their passages uniformly damp and cool below the
surface. Yet their habits in this particular are unvarying, in the
se