I 



INDIAN DRAGON FLIES. 493 



Acisoma, Rambur. 



Head rather small ; eyes just touching; forehead rounded ; mid-suture flush ; 

 vesicle small, rounded and depressed. 



Prothorax with a large, projecting lobe which is slightly notched in its free 

 border and lined with a ruff of long hairs. 



Thorax moderately large, narrow. 



Legs : hind femora with a row of closely set, short spines of uniform lengtli 

 for two-thirds the length and with a long spine at the distal extremity ; tibial 

 spines long, moderately robust and numerous ; claw-hooks robust. 



Wings short but moderately broad ; reticulation fairly close ; trigone in the 

 forewing in line with that of the hind ; sectors of the arc fused for 

 a long distance ; arc between the 1st and 2nd antenodal nervures ; 8th nervure 

 widely separated from the anal angle of the trigone in the hindwing ; 7 to 9 

 antenodal nervures, the final either complete or incomplete ; trigone in the 

 hindwing at the arc ; 1 cubital nervure to all wings ; no supplementary ner- 

 vures ; costal side of the trigone in the forewing often somewhat crooked, 

 the distal bent portion shorter than the proximal ; both trigones entire ; 

 subtrigone in the forewing with 1 to 3 cells; hypertrigones entire ; 4th nervure 

 very flatly ciu'ved ; 1 row of cells between 5 and 5a ; 8th nervure in the hind- 

 wing short and very strongly bent; discoidal field with 2 rows of cells, widely 

 dilated at the termen ; anal field in the hindwing very broad ; loop with a 

 right angled outer angle and split cells , between it and the anal border, rows 

 of very long, thin cells, standing perpendicular to the termen. Membrane 

 small. Stigma moderate sized. 



Abdomen : both laterally and dorso-ventrally dilated from the 1st to the 6th 

 segment, the final segments very slim. 



Anal appendages as long as the 9th segment. 



Genital organs : See species. 



30. Acisoma panorpoides panorpoides, Rambur. 



Head : eyes turquoise blue ; occiput and vesicle black ; clypeus and labrum 

 pale blue ; base of occiput narrowly black, this colour prolonged into the suture 

 and laterally on to epistome. A fine black line crossing epistome. 



Prothorax-brown or black with 2 medium spots and the free edge of the lobe 

 broadly sky-bluje. 



Thorax sky blue in the male, a fine yellowish green in the female, marked 

 in both sexes with a variable, reticulated pattern of black spots and anasto- 

 mising stripes, which suggest hieroglyphic or Sanskrit characters. 



Legs black, striped outwardly with pale blue or yellowish green according 

 to the sex. 



Wings hyaline with a very faint, diffuse suffusion of yellow at the bases. 

 Antecubital nervures 7 to 8, the final nearly always complete. Stigma very 

 pale yellow, bordered with broA\Ti. Membrane grey white at the base. 



Abdomen sky blue in the male, yellowish green in the female, marked with 

 black in both sexes as follows : — a chain of wedge-shaped spots on the mid- 

 dorsum, the bases of the wedges being distal and the series steadily increasing 

 in size as traced backwards ; a chain of subdorsal spots from the 1st to the 

 5th segment, rather obscure on the first 2 segments ; a broad black stripe on 

 the first segment, notched posteriorly and the borders of the 4th and 5th 

 narrowly black. The fhial 3 segments entirely black. 



Anal appendages very pale blue or bluish green. 



Genital organs ; lamina of male procumbent ; tentaculae projecting ; lobe 

 very small but prominent. Vulvar scales of female projecting ; the final 

 abdominal segments markedly dilated and flattened dorso-ventrally. 



Hab. All India, Ceylon, Burma, Straits, Bengal and Bombay. 



