ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 399 



.r seemed to be at home. Oftenest we found them resting 

 on the rail and board fences which separated the woodland 

 from the open fields. Sometimes they were on logs or trees or 

 clinging to a twig ; always in the sunshine and in an open 

 place, where sudden dashes in any direction after insect prey 

 were possible. Rarely one was seen over the fields, possibly 

 passing from one side of the valley to the other with swift, 

 strong flight. At rest, they seem careless of danger. Possi- 

 bly, as undisputed insect lords of the valley, they have grown 

 to fear nothing. One will hang on a fence-post, its abdomen 

 pressed against the wood. The insect-net is brought within 

 an inch of it; but it never moves. To attempt to brush it 

 from the post into the net may crush it. You touch the abdo- 

 men with the rim of the net. The dragon-fly moves impa- 

 tiently and holds its abdomen away from the post. Then the 

 net is moved up along the post till the abdomen hangs within 

 the ring. A quick stroke and the thing is done. Once a male 

 was seen within two feet of the ground, clinging to the trunk 

 of a small sycamore ; the writer was within half a dozen feet 

 of the tree. Suddenly the dragon-fly dashed from the tree, 

 seized a crane-fly, numbers of which were rising and falling 

 within a yard's distance ; then returned to the tree, alighting a 

 little higher than its former resting-place. This was repeated 

 several times, till the dragon-fly was resting ten or twelve feet 

 from the ground. Each trip was made with great swiftness and 

 vigor. It is surely its sense of power and superiority over its 

 associates that makes it fall such an easy prey to the insectnet. 



The earliest record for the species in Allegheny County is 

 June r, when one entered Mr. Graf's home in Pittsburg. On 

 July 1 6, the latest date at which it has been observed, Mr. 

 Graf took a specimen, which, contrary to their usual habits, 

 was resting in the middle of a road. On June n, recently- 

 emerged individuals were taken. On that date and on June 17 

 the largest number of individuals was observed. On July 4, a 

 tour of the fences did not yield a specimen ; a solitary male 

 came swiftly across the valley and pa^-ed out of sight through 

 the woods on the hillside. 



The nymphs of this genus are not known. 



