240 NEW FORMS OP AUSTRALIAN ODONATA, 



paler in centre ; postnodals 17 in fore, 13-14 in hindwing. Epicra- 

 nium, clypeus and labrum bronze. Thorax with dull brown over- 

 lying the bronze dorsally; markings yellower in mature £ than in (J 

 both on thorax and abdomen, the usual colour being straw. Abdo- 

 men cylindrical, thicker than in $, except 9, which is much swol- 

 len, 10 narrower : 1, with an apical whitish band ; 3-8 with yellow 

 markings larger than in $, and spreading further apically along 

 underside. Ovipositor black; 9, blackish; 10, narrow and short, 

 1-2 mm., white or creamy. Appendages 0-6 mm., straight, sub- 

 conical, creamy ; tips with a very fine sharp brownish point. 



Hab. — Mount Tambourine, Queensland December-January. 

 Twelve mature males, and three mature females were taken by me, 

 between December 21st, 1912, and January 6th, 1913. 



Types: <££., mature, taken in cop., January 2nd, 1913; Coll. 

 Tillyard. 



During the latter half of December, I found this insect emerging 

 in large numbers from a deep pool of the creek, near the top of the 

 mountain, in dense scrub. These were nearly all females, and 

 exceedingly weak and flabby. In spite of the abundance of newly- 

 emerged specimens, mature specimens were seldom met with. A 

 large percentage are caught and eaten by birds as they make their 

 way from the pool; many more fall victims to rapacious spiders, 

 both on land and water; and the remnant hide away in the dense 

 scrub, where it is almost impossible to find them. I never caught 

 more than two or three mature specimens in the course of a day's 

 hunt, and only twice found them in cop. Their colouration is mar- 

 vellously protective. When resting on the trunks of palms or tree- 

 ferns, they are practically invisible, and will remain so still that 

 they can be picked off with the hand. Also when flying in the half- 

 light of the scrub, the whigs are invisible, and the body nearly so. 

 They are, curiously enough, only betrayed by the distinct white tip 

 of the abdomen, which, I soon convinced myself, is actually neces- 

 sary to enable the sexes to discover one another. The male, while 

 sitting on a twig or trunk, arches his abdomen outwards, and moves 

 his white appendages to and fro, while I have no doubt that the 

 female uses the white tip of her abdomen in a similar manner. 



