IO ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS a"-. 1 9 



The Odonata of Concord, Massachusetts. 



By R. HEEER HOWE, JR., Concord, Mass. 



In Thoreau's "Summer" the following entries comprise the 

 first records of dragon-flies for the township of Concord: 

 "June 6, 1852. First devil's needles in the air, and some 

 bright green ones on flowers." "June 6, 1854. I see some 

 devil's needles, a brilliant green with white or black, or open 

 work and black wings [Libellula?] , some with clear black 

 wings [A. inaculatum ?] some with white bodies and black 

 wings, etc." [P. lydia?]. "June 10, 1857. Many creatures, 

 devil's needles, etc., cast their sloughs now." "June 14, 1853. 

 p. m. To White's Pond Large devil's needles [Basiaeschna?] 

 are buzzing back and forth. They skim along the edge of 

 the blue flags, apparently quite around this cove or further, 

 like Hen Harries beating the bush for game." The first spe- 

 cific species recorded from Concord was Celithemis elisa listed 

 by Dr. P. P. Calvert in Occasional Papers, Boston Society 

 of Natural History, VII. Fauna of New England, 41, 1905, 

 based on a specimen in the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia. The first list of local dragon flies was pub- 

 lished by Edward L. Peirson, Jr., in the Proceedings of the 

 Thoreau Museum of Natural History I 41, 1915, and numbered 

 twelve species. The second, and a preliminary list was pub- 

 lished by R. Heber Howe, Jr., in Psyche 23:12-15, 1916. This 

 list contained fifty-two species. In a Manual of New England 

 Odonata Memoir II, Part I, II & III March I9i;-August 

 1917, July, 1918, 1-32, Thoreau Museum of Natural History, 

 various Concord records appeared. The present list, probably 

 nearly complete, numbers eighty-seven species. A complete 

 collection of specimens on which these records are based is to 

 be found in the Thoreau Museum of Natural History, Con- 

 cord. 



ZYGOPTERA. 



AGRIONIDAE. 

 Agrion aequabile (Say). Uncommon; Spencer brook, May 29 to 



June 24. 



Agrion maculatum Beauv. Common; Spencer brook, Fairyland, May 

 20 to August 2f>. 



