FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



Mating adults fly about together, seldom alighting except 

 to deposit the eggs just below the water in the stems of picker- 

 el weed or other shore plants. Even while the female lays 

 her eggs the pair often stay together. 



Occurrence. — Adults emerge from May i to October 20. 



Damselflies, Suborder Zygoptera, — Damselfly nymphs are 

 slender nymphs whose tapering bodies bear three leaf-like 

 gills at the posterior end. Some of them are dark colored, 

 often stream-inhabiting nymphs; others are delicate, pale 

 green and usually live among the vegetation of quiet water. 



The brilliantly colored adults fly loiteringly along water 

 sides. 



Fig. 165. — I, Nym.ph and adult male of black- 

 wing, Agrio72 {Caloptcryx) maculatum; 2, wing of 

 female. 



Blackwings, Agrion (Calopteryx). — These are the "black 

 wings," the familiar damselflies with brilliant green or blue 

 bodies and black wings (Fig. 165). They flutter along over 

 the border shrubbery of shaded streams with all the uncer- 

 tainty of butterflies. The commonest species is Agrion 

 (Calopteryx) maculatum. The adult male is beautiful metallic 

 green or blue with uniformly black or rusty black wings; the 



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