402 ON THE GENUS CORDULEPHYA, 



day in late summer or early autumn, it is most interesting to 

 watch these insects. At Lily Vale, in April, 1907, they were 

 particularly numei-ous on the creek. Nearly every rock was 

 tenanted by one or more males, the females being always exces- 

 sively I'are, and practically never seen except when ovipositing. 

 Every few minutes a male would fly up, indulge in a short and 

 very bewildering zig-zag flight, and then settle down on another 

 rock. Often the males would disturb one another, and the two 

 together, flying up, would indulge in the most fantastic evolu- 

 tions, generally ending in a wild flight away into the trees. It 

 is very seldom that a pair are seen together; I have several times 

 seen a female dash rapidly down from the trees, as if to oviposit* 

 and then be seized rapidly by a male, wht^-eupon they would 

 immediately fly off in the same wild zig-zag manner into the trees. 

 Later in the day, and often throughout the day in late autumn, 

 the males leave the creek, and seek out a sunny tree-trunk in 

 some open glade of the bush. Here they will sit and sun them- 

 selves, occasionally making short flights, but always returning to 

 the sunny patch on the tree-trunk. As the shadows lengthen in 

 the afternoon, and the sunny patch gets smaller and moves slowly 

 up the trunk, these insects follow it in the same manner that I 

 have seen butterflies of the genus Xeruca or Heteronympha 

 behave; so that often several will be at rest close together, high 

 up on the trunk. Finally, as the sun gets lower, they fly oif one 

 by one, and disappear into the forest. 



Life-JIistonj of C. montana. 



The few facts that T have been able to observe with regard 

 to this species, shew that, on the whole, the life-history is 

 very similar to that of T'. pygnuca. The most importazit 

 difference is that the eggs are laid during January (the type- 

 female was captured while ovipositing), and that the larvae 

 are full-fed early in November ; so that the imago is on the 

 wing in December and January, instead of late in the season. 

 Now this is a very interesting fact, because, on the Blue 

 Mountains, at a high elevation, the local Aeschnidct (of 



