bio JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



The sexual differences in this species are so marked that Rambur and Drury 

 described the male and female as two distmct species, although the former sug- 

 gested that they might be the two sexes of one species. 



I have specimens from Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Assam which show 

 but the slightest differences in markings but in three males sent to me by Mr. 

 Beeson, taken in Toungoo and Tharawaddy, Burma, these are so marked as to be 

 almost specific. In these the ground colour approaches nearer to the female, 

 being a rich, pale golden browh. The apices of the wings are but faintly 

 tipped with pale amber and the margins of the hyaline area are not nearly 

 so clearly cut. 



This species is a shy, retiring insect, usually keeping to the precincts of dense 

 jungle. Males and female are nearly always seen in company but very rarely 

 pairing and although a comparatively common insect, I have never seen them 

 over Water or ovipositing. 



Hab. India except in the desert or drier zones, Burma, Ceylon. 



41. Neurothemis tullia tullia, Bis. 



Libellula equestris. Fabric ius. 

 Libell'ula Uneata, Tabricius. 

 Diplax equestris, Brauer. 

 Libellula tullia, Drury. 

 Neurothemis equestris, Brauer. 

 Neurothemis var. pedestris, Selys. 



Male : Expanse 45 to 53 mm. Length 28 to 35 mm. 



Head comparatively large, warm brown above, opalescent green beneath and 

 at the sides ; occiput broVn ; vesicle rounded or with two obscure points, brown; 

 front a dark, greenish yellow or blackish and very glossy, almost metallic ; epis- 

 tome, labrum, and labium pale greenish yellow. 



Prothorax, moderately large, rounded and slightly notched lobe, dark brown 

 and with a broad, mid -dorsal, greenish yeUow fascia. 



Thorax blackish brown on the dorsum where the mid-dorsal fascia of the pro- 

 thorax is continued backwards over the tergum to the dorsal surface of the 

 abdomen. The sides pale and in juvenile specimens yellowish. 



Legs black, the extensor surface of the tibiae yellowish. The terminal spine 

 of the hind femora very long. 



Abdomen slender, of even thickness, strongly keeled, blackish brown or black, 

 with the mid-dorsal, yellowish-green fascia continued back as far as the 8th 

 segments. Anal appendages pale, creamy yellow. 



Wings moderately broad and rounded, the basal half jet black in both wings, 

 this colour extending outwards to a little beyond the node and curvuig inwards 

 towards the base near the termen and bordered outwardly by a broad, opales- 

 cent, white fascia to about halfway to the stigma. Membrane and stigma black. 

 No supernumerary nervures to the bridge ; 5 cubital nervures in the forewing, 

 2 in the hind ; trigone and hypertrigone in the forewing traversed twice, in the 

 hind once. The reticulation over the black area ochreous or reddish. 



Sexual organs as for the genus. 



Female strikingly different from the male, so much so, that the two sexes 

 were described as t^vK) different species by Fabricius under the names equestris 

 for the male, and Uneata for the female. 



Expanse 40 to 45 mm. Length 30 mm. 



Head much paler in coloiu-, the front, epistome, labrum and labium a pale 

 greenish yellow ; vesicle and occiput oUvaceous. 



Prothorax and thorax marked as in the male but the coloiu* much paler, the side 

 pale greenish yellow and only the mid-dorsal fascia bordered by a diffuse, brown 

 stripe. Legs yellow, the distal ends of femora, brown. Abdomen pale greenish 

 yellow, with a fine, mid-dorsal black line and a broad, blackish brown stripe 



