MYRMELBON, in natural history, lien ant, a genus of insects of the order Neu roptera. Mouth with a horny, acute man dible andjaw ; feelers six ; antenns thicker at the tip ; wings deflected ; tail of the male armed with a forceps, com posed of two straight filaments. There are sixteen species of this genus enume rated by Gmelin, which are divided into two sections, viz. A. Hind-feelers much longer; jaw one-toothed ; lip membrana ceous, square, truncate, emarginate. B. Feelers nearly equal ; jaw ciliate ' • lip horny, rounded, entire. The animals of this family prey with the most savage fe rocity on ants and lesser insects, and for the purpose of ensnaring them, sinks it self into the sand, and forms a kind of funnel or pit, in which it lies buried, the head immediately beneath the apex of the inverted cone. Into this hollow such insects as fall, not being able to crawl up the sides of loose sand, are seized and devoured by the lion-ant. But
if the sides of the pit do not give way, or the unlucky insect appears to be able to make its escape, its merciless enemy, by throwing with its head repeated showers of sand, forces it down till it cornea with., in its reach. The larva is six-footed, with exserted, toothed jaws; pupa inclosed in a ball composed of sand or earth, agglu tinated and connected by very fine silk, which it draws from a tubular process at the extremity of the body: with this silk - it also lines the internal surface of the ball, which, if opened, appears coated by fine pearl-coloured silken tissue. It eon tinues in the state of chrysalis about four and then gives birth to the com plete insect. M. formicako, in its com plete, or fly-state, bears a great resem blance to a small dragon-11y, from which it may be distinguished by its antenna. It is a native of Europe. See Plate W. Entomology; fig. 5.