May, '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 149 



1893. Ridley Twp., Del. Co., Pa. P. P. Calvert, collector." 

 I cannot find any notes made on this pair, but their history, 

 as far as I can recall it from memory, is as follows : In the 

 afternoon of the day mentioned, I saw a pair flying to- 

 gether in the position represented by Plate VIT and alight- 

 ing- on the branch of a tree close to the ground. Approach- 

 ing cautiously, I was able to seize one with my right 

 hand, the other with my left at the same instant, without pull- 

 ing them apart, or without the insects themselves separating. 

 The capture occurred near the house and some one of the 

 family poured a few drops of benzine on the insects, while I 

 held them in position, until this substance killed them. Each 

 was pinned to the same piece of cork which serves as a com- 

 mon mounting block, while a stouter pin thrust through 

 the cork enables the pair to be moved about as one specimen. 

 Some years later, Dermestids got access to them and made 

 large cavities in the eyes of both, but, fortunately, did not 

 injure the specimens seriously otherwise, before the depreda- 

 tions were discovered. Dr. Skinner then kindly made a pho- 

 tograph of the pair lest other injury be done, and the prints 

 have been in my possession for some years. Excepting 

 the damage referred to, the specimens themselves are in good 

 condition. In only one detail does the copulatory position 

 seem to have been lost : the appendages of the male are no 

 longer in actual contact with the head (due probably to some 

 contraction of the abdominal muscles and to shrinkage from 

 drying of the tissues), although they retain the angular di- 

 vergence which corresponds with Mr. Williamson's descrip- 

 tion. The shadows, which appear around the head of the 

 female in the photograph, obscure the details to such an ex- 

 tent that I have shown these in outline on the plate, on the 

 same scale, by a drawing made directly from the insects. 



Perhaps a photograph made of living Odonata while pairing 

 may reveal some differences from what is here shown on Plate 

 VII, and some entomologist may be fortunate enough to secure 

 such a view. That it is often not difficult to approach these in- 

 sects at this time, and at short range, is shown also by the fact 

 that on August 29, 1895, at Interlaken, Switzerland, I caught a 



