356 Annals of the South African Museum. 



thi^ee yellow points. Appendages and supra-anal tubercle yellow. 

 Ventral surface of abdomen whitish. 



For vulvar scale and other structures of genital segments see p. 340, 

 and Text-fig. 60. 



Wings slightly tinged with yellowish, especially along the veins. 

 Costal vein, costal and subcostal cross-veins yellow. Pterostigma 

 black. 



AM. 40, hdw. 32, pt. 3'5 mm. 



Fio. 60. Ceratogomphus pictus, $ . Waterval. Terminal segments, 



ventral vie\v. 



The anal loop as described in the table (p. 340), and figured in 

 Plate VIII, fig. 6, is sometimes not fully developed, the transverse 

 veins failing to meet exactly for the formation of its anal side. Such 

 specimens may easily be identified by the structure of the terminal 

 segments, which is very characteristic in both sexes. 



II Cn. SUBFAMILY AESCHNINAE. 



The largest and most conspicuous Jon at a of South Africa (and 

 most other regions) are the Aeschninae. Everybody, not the ento- 

 mologist alone, knows the beautifully built, gaily coloured giants of 

 the Order. Their restless hunting of insect prey over every sheet of 

 water as long as there is bright sunshine, their swift movements and 

 keen evolutions never fail to attract the interest and the delight of 

 a thoughtful observer. But what means beauty and delight to the 

 unselfish spectator is often delusion and bitterness to the collecting 

 entomologist, who may observe a great prize for hours without 

 having the chance to get it into his treacherous net. Only a few 

 members of the subfamily are slower in their movements, less defiant, 

 less attached to open water and therefore an easier prey among 

 vegetation, sometimes far from water, in woods, gardens, even in 

 towns. Aeschninae are the " dragonflies " in the restricted sense, and 

 the numerous vernacular names in many languages nearly always 

 mean some conspicuous Aeschna or Anax in preference to other 

 members of the Order. It is difficult to say why these insects have 

 in some regions (as, for instance, in the writer's Swiss home) a very 



