INDIAN DRAGONFLIES. 



515 



Prothorax browii w'ith similar mottling. 



Thorax broVn mottled with grey, white and black streaks which anastomos 

 in an irregular pattern. Legs blackish brown. 



Wings hyaline ; many of the basal nervures and all the antenodal nervures 

 yellow; 10| to 12| antenodal nervures in the forewing 9 to 10 in the hind; 

 stigma blackish browii with a spot of white at either end. 



Abdomen similar in colour to the thorax, cinerous beneath, the intersegmental 

 nodes ringed with black. Anal appendages white. 



J'emale : Expanse 45 mm. Length 75 mm. 



Very similar to the male but rather lighter in colour. One antenodal nervure 

 less in both wings than in the male. 



Hab. The single species taken in India has a wide distribution, being 

 found in the plains and submontane areas throughout India, Ceylon and Burma 

 except in the desert tracts. The insect has a curious habit of sunning itself 

 on walls coated with cement, or on the sides of ^vtells. 



I have seen numbers resting on the face of the granite rocks on Elephanta 

 Island, and in all such situations, ow'ing to its cryptic colouring, it is well nigh 

 invisible. Possibly the habit is of a protective nature or it may aid the insect 

 in stalking its prey. Rambur described the species as from Bombay as far 

 back as 1842. 



Genus — Crocothemis. 



Fig. 42. — ^Wings of Crocothemis servilia. (X2^) 



Crocothemis, Brauer, 1868. 



Head large and globular : eyes shortly fused : forehead projecting, the suture 

 very deep and separating two horse-shoe shaped, flat areas : vesicle rotmded. 



Prothcrax : posterior lobe very small and rounded, middle lobe fringed 

 anteriorly with long hairs. 



Thorax robust, legs moderately long and robust, the hind femora with a row 

 of closely-set numerous short spines of uniform size and with a much longer 

 one at the distal end ; tibial sjiines numerous, fine and of medium length : 

 claw hooks robust, nearer the distal end of claws. Armature in the female 

 very similar. 



Abdomen broad, sides parallel or slightly fusiform and tapering strongly 

 near the end : in the female the sides parallel : both sexes strongly carinated 

 along the dorsal ridge. Anal appendages closely-set and long. 



Wings long and of medium Width : reticulation close : trigone in the forewmg 

 about one cells breadth distal to the trigone in the hind : sectors of arc in the 

 forewing moderately short, a much longer fusion in the hind : arc between tha 

 1st and 2nd antenodal nervures : 8th nervure in the hindwing arising from the 

 anal angle of the trigone or in very occasional specimens, slightly separated 

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