410 SKETCHES OF INSECTS, 



mailed body and expanded wino^s, enjoys the glories of the new 

 world it has entered upon. The drag^on-flies are the most 

 splendid and beautiful of British insects; their motions and 

 evolutions combine elegance with celerity, while, as far as we 

 are concerned, they are perfectly innoxious. They appear only 

 in brig-ht weather, when the sun darts forth its hottest rays; 

 with expanded wings, excelling in texture the most delicate 

 lace, they seem to drink up the fervid radiance, while the colours 

 of the iris flash upon their polished cuirasses as they urge their 

 graceful but impetuous flight. View that noble insect gorgeously 

 arrayed in yellow vest — 'tis the Libellula grandis — worthy of his 

 name, observe him like a satellite performing his revolution round 

 that rushy pond, nor pausing a moment o'er the liquid mirror 

 but to seize some insect that disturbs his reign. That pond is to 

 him a kingdom, there he reigns supreme, and his rapid wing 

 leaves no part of its surface unexplored. 



We will now turn down this sand-stone lane, and shroud our- 

 selves from the sun-beams beneath the oblique shadow of the 

 bending wytch-elm, whose trunk sloping from the treacherous 

 sand-stone, is yet abundantly protected by the enormous 

 buttresses of roots, that curl among each other like a knot of 

 snakes. What rush was that ? the magnificent Libellula varia 

 bright with the combined splendour of yellow, green, and the 

 blue of heaven on its radiant vest, swifter than the swallow, darts 

 before us. And whilst threading every labyrinth of the tree 

 above us, how inexpressibly brilliant its cierulean spots appear 

 contrasted with the light green above them, and the deep green 

 of the leaves. Now turn to the river where among the tall 

 grass and reeds, those most beautiful of all the tribe, the 

 demoiselle-dragon flies,* with vests of the deepest changing 

 green and purple wings, are fluttering over the sparkling 

 water. Well might Chateaubriand compare those fairy-like 

 insects, the resplendent blue-green of whose robe no pencil 

 can copy, as their metallic lustre contrasts with the pure tiaras 

 of the white water-lily, to a humming-bird of the Floridas 

 on a rose of Magnolia. f Nor, as we close the picture, can we 

 leave out the bands of minor Libellul(s, whose slender and deli- 

 cate folding tubes sparkle as they fly with azure, white, and 

 the various shades of pink and rose. 



The Ephemera or May-fly offers an anomaly in its transfor- 

 mations different from all other known insects. After its larva 

 has attained maturity, it ascends a water plant, when the skin 

 bursts, and the pupa itself actually flies away. However, in 

 twenty or thirty minutes, it again settles on some convenient 

 spot, where it casts its skin, and the real perfect insect then ap- 

 pears. The brevity of life is well exemplified in the history of 

 the Ephemera, As the broad red sun descends to the horizon, 



* L. virgo. t Chateaubriand's Genius of Christianity. 



