698 LIFE-HISTORIES OF AUSTRALIAN ODONATA, NO. III., 



beautiful. This was on November 7th. Two days later, during 

 a heavy rainstorm, one of my pupils, Mr. Keith Brown, was 

 out collecting Crustacea at Leura Creek, with Mr. Alan McCulloch, 

 Zoologist at the Australian Museum, when his attention was 

 drawn to a dragonfly fluttering at the side of the cascades. It 

 had evidently only lately emerged, and its wings were consider- 

 ably knocked about. In a swirling pool of water near by, he 

 found the larval skin; little knowing what a prize he had secured 

 just in time, for soon afterwards the whole creek was a raging 

 torrent, and the precious exuvise would have been swept over the 

 falls. Both imago and exuviE© were placed in alcohol, and 

 brought to me in the hope that they might prove of interest. 



I was delighted enough to have this material corroboration of 

 Mr, Waterhouse's capture in the form of the imago; but that in 

 itself pales into insignificance before the discovery of the larva, 

 which is absolutely the first recorded larva ever found, of the 

 remarkable Petalia-gioup of Odonata. I think all Odonatologists 

 will be thankful to Mr. Brown for his great find, especially 

 because it was out of a kindly interest in Nature and generous 

 thought for the needs of someone else, that he, with no interest 

 whatever in entomology, secured this great treasure. 



During the rest of November and December, 1908, I visited 

 the locality whenever possible, and kept a careful look-out for 

 this rare insect. I also dredged carefully along the creek on each 

 occasion. But I never found either larva or imago. Apart from 

 giving a careful description of both, I am only able to say that 

 there are two interesting points to be noted with regard to the 

 species. The first is, that both Mr. Waterhouse's specimens 

 were females, and so is that taken by Mr. Brown, and they were 

 taken in exactly the same spot. The second is that they were all 

 taken at the beginning of November, and that the insect has 

 never been seen at any other period. It suggests to me a way of 

 accounting for the extreme rarity of the insect. May not the 

 imagines, directly after emergence (and in particular the males) 

 disappear into the trackless forest, as is the case with some 

 American Gomphince, and possibly never appear again on the creek 



