INDIAN DE AGON FLIES. 913 



gradually approaches and fuses with the black line bordering the remain- 

 ing segments. A fine middorsal black line on the carina. Anal appendages 

 black. In the adult female these are ochreous with black tips. 



Hab. Throughout Continental India in the plains, but ascending to 

 3^500 feet, in the Southern Hills at least. I have specimens from Shillong, 

 Karachi, Bombay, Madras and Ceylon and from parts of the Deccan, but 

 with the exception of the extent of the basal marking in the hindwing, 

 they show but little variation. It is one of the commonest Indian dragon- 

 flies and is fqund throughout the year in Southern India in the plains. In 

 the Deccan, it is not common until the month of April, when it suddenly 

 appears in large numbers along the banks of rivers, streams or tanks. 

 It breeds in running water for preference, keeping to the shallows, where 

 large numbers of the larvae may be found by lifting up curtains of 

 spirogyra. 



58. Trithemisannulata, Ptis, 1908. Coll. Selys. 

 Lihellula aitnulata, Paliset de Beauvais. 

 LiheUula rubvinervis, Selys, 1849, Hagen, 1856, Selys, i860. 

 TrithemU rHbrinern.-<, Braner, 1868, Selys, 1887, Kirby Cat., 1890, 



Calvert, 1893, Martin, 1894, 1895, Maclachlan, 1897, Kirby, 1897. 

 Libeliida obsoleta, Rambur, 1842, 

 Trithemis obsoleta, Brauer, 1868. 

 Libeliida kcematina, Rambur, 1842. 



Expanse 64 nnn. Length 37 mm. 



The colouring of this species both for male and female is exactly 

 similar to aurora, but it is readily distinguished from the latter by the 

 follow-ng specific characters :— the size is much greater, some of the 

 females being of comparatively great size ; the antenodal nervures number 

 only 9i to 10| and lastly, the rays in the inferior costal and cubital spaces 

 seen in aurora are absent. The basal marking in the hindwing varies as 

 inaurnra, but is similar in colour. 



Teneral forms of anmdata are exactly similar to those of aurora except 

 for the three diflerences noted above for the adults. 



Anmdata replaces aurora or rather the latter replaces the former in India, 

 anM?</«fa being found in Mesopotamia. The diflerences between the adult 

 and teneral forms in the one and the other are a most striking analogy and 

 furnish the most convincing proof of the relation between these forms. 



Hab. Mesopotamia, Africa generally and Madagascar, throughout Asia 

 Minor and the Mediterranean coast. Specimens from Suez are exactly 

 the same as those from Mesopotamia. I include this species on account 

 of its striking analogy to aurora and also to the close association which 

 Mesopotamia has now with this country, 



59. Trithemis kirbyi kJrbyi, Ris, 1911, 



Trithemis aurora, Kirby, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1886, Cat. 1890. 

 Trithemis Idrbyi, Selys, 1891. 



Male : Expanse 56 mm. Length 35 mm. 



Head: eyes reddish brown or bright red above, pale brown laterally 

 and beneath. In some specimens there is an equatorial ring of red 

 just below the red cap and this is followed by a delicate lilac tintT occiput 

 brown : vesicle, forehead and upper part of epistome bright vermilion red 

 fading to yellow below : labrum and labium yellow. 



Prothorax ochreous with a black collar in front and another behind. 



Thorax oHvaceous to golden brown, suftused with a peach-blossom tint 

 at the humeral and metepimeronal regions, the intervening area being a 

 pale greenish white. In many specimens the sides are suflused with bright 



