158 



we ever met with except in similar centres : like the king of birds, the Dragon-fly 

 is unrivalled among his kind."* 



JE. grandL?,\ (Lin. and Stephens), ranks here, a noble species, scarce- 

 ly inferior in size to the preceding : thorax and abdomen auburn brown, with 

 brown glazed wings. JE. annulata ( Cordulegaster annulatus, Leach) has the 

 thorax jet black with yellow lines and the abdomen brown with a yellow trans- 

 verse line in the middle, and two yellow spots on the side of each ringlet. I found 

 a dead specimen of this insect lying on the beach at Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, 

 this autumn. 



III. Agrion, Fab. The Agriones differ from the other Libellulidse in their 

 wings being elevated when at rest, the head being transversal, and the eyes dis- 

 tant from each other. The ocelli are placed in a triangle, and the abdomen is 

 cylindrical and linear. Perhaps in delicacy of form, silken splendour of attire, 

 and elegance of veiny wing, they excel the other families of a tribe where elegance 

 and splendour is the prevailing characteristic ; and hence the appellations of 

 Virgo, Puella, and Sponsa have been poetically applied to them ; they have all, 

 however, the predaceous habits of the tribe, but fly less swiftly, with hovering in- 

 decision, and vagabondizing mostly in low marshy situations by the sides of 

 streams, ponds, and rivers, often reposing on aquatic plants, are very easily taken. 

 Their larvaB feed in the water, but their bodies are more attenuated than those of 

 their congeners with a long tail. 



A. virgo ( Calepteryx virgo, Leach) we have previously described as of 

 singular beauty. The beep-blue of the thoi'ax and abdomen, relieved by golden- 

 green reflections, forms a splendid object. Wings without a real stigma, yellow- 

 ish, with a deep purple stain in the centre. This is a social species, numerous 

 squadrons being commonly seen sporting together on the reedy margins of rivers 

 in June and July. 



A. puella. — Another social species, very delicate in form, of a lovely blue, 

 and abundant about rural ponds as soon as the spring is firmly established, Un- 

 der this name Linneus placed, as varieties, several forms, very similar in shape 

 and habit, but differing in colour. He imagined these supposed varieties inter- 

 mixed with each other, which is not the case ; and they now, therefore, are justly 

 named as species. A. sanguineum, A. albicans, A. annulare, A. zonatus, A. 

 rvfescens, &c, are all to be found in wet places and about pools, adding by the 



* Newman's Sphinx Vespiformis, p. 28. 



■j- The term grandis seems to have been applied to several species of the Llbellulida; re- 

 markable for size and beauty ; and hence a confusion has arisen difficult to unravel with- 

 out having the specimens of different authors before us. Linneus, in the last edition of 

 the Syst. Nat., does not mention the colour of the abdomen; and some state it to be brown, 

 and others spotted with green. L. maculatissima, of Stephens, was probably alluded to in 

 the latter case. 



