172 ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE 



the place of a properly developed queen. In this coun- 

 try white ants are to be found under logs and stones, 

 not infrequently associated with our common ants. Here 

 they do not grow so large, nor are they so numerous as 

 they are in tropical countries. 



Dragon-Flies, 1 or " snake doctors," frequently so called, 

 are familiar objects about ponds and quiet streams. 

 In some species the females skim along over the sur- 

 face of the water, dipping down to the water to drop 

 an egg, there to hatch, and, in the form resembling 



FIG. 136. Dragon-fly (Libellula pulchella') natural size. From a photograph. 



the figure (Fig. 140), to seek a livelihood. Other 

 females oviposit by descending some water plant until 

 the tip of the abdomen is below the surface of the water, 

 there placing the egg in a slit cut in the plant for the 

 purpose. 



Among the weird superstitious beliefs of childhood, 

 and not infrequently of later years, the dragon-flies 

 have a place. Nearly every boy will tell you that the 



1 Family, Libellulidce. 



