IXDIAX J)RA(; ON FLIES. ' 455 



has been caretully sifted, collected and woven into a whole, this 

 fine kinuTlom of insects will i'ail to excite their fair share of 

 interest. 



At the present time Mr. F. F. Laidlaw is publishing in the 

 Records of tlie Indian Mnseuni a list of the Dragoniiies recorded 

 from the Indian Empire. (Records of the Indian j\Inseuni, Vol. 

 XIII. Parti.) 



The following papers are intended to give firstly a brief outline 

 of the anatomy and biology of Indian Dragonflies and sidjsequently 

 a description of the varioiis families, genera and forms found within 

 Indian limits. 



Among the paleontological remains of Nenropterous insects, 

 fully fifty per cent, have been classified as belonging to the Odonata 

 thus proving that they are a remarkably ancient order, e.<j., C. 

 yhitijptera, Charpentier, has been found in the Oligocene and 

 C. scheuhzeri, Massal, in the Eocene. A large number of/Eschnines 

 are found amongst these fossils, some of them well preserved and 

 analoo-ous to existing forms. 



This group of insects has a world-wide distribution and although 

 the number described from India is not large when compared 

 to its Lepidopterous fauna, this countr}^ will probably be found 

 to be as rich as most of the other parts of the Old AYorld when 

 further interest has been paid to them. Their range extends from 

 the Arctic to the Antarctic circle and unlike most other insects in 

 their geographical distribution, the confines, of most of the species 

 are not nearly so circumscribed by natural features such as mountain 

 ranges, seas and sandy wastes. This is more true as applied to the 

 Anisoptera than to the Zygoptera on account of the relatively greater 

 powers of Alight of the former, but even the latter have a wonder- 

 ful way of spreading along the course of the great rivers for many 

 h\indreds of miles. Part of this latter distribution must be put 

 down to water-boume ovse, as man}^ species have a habit of de- 

 positing their eggs in or on the surface of swiftly running streams. 

 Certain species have a habit of migrating in vast swarms, many 

 such having been recorded from time to time and I have myself 

 seen two, one in Mesopotamia, when as manj- as twenty specimens 

 could be taken with one sweep of the net and the other some fortj^ 

 miles out at sea, off the Kathiawar coast. Occasionally and ex- 

 ceptionally, one finds some species restricted to extraordinaril}- narrow 

 limits. As would be expected from the foregoing, not a few of the 

 Indian species are found to be common to other countries, specially 

 Europe and parts of Asia. 



Marked differences of opinion have been shown as to the true posi- 

 tion of the Odonata in the Insect kingdom, most authorities being- 

 content to follow the old Linnean system and to place them as a sub- 

 order of the Neuroptera. There seems to be a tendency to place many 



