12 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SYMPETRUM 

 FONSCOLOMBII (SELYS)-A DRAGON-FLY 

 NEW TO THE SCOTTISH LIST— IN THE 

 FORTH AREA. 



By William Evans, F.R.S.E. 



WHEN, a year ago, I published in the Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History, my paper on Scottish Dragon-flies, I little 

 dreamt that I should so soon be in a position to add another 

 species to the list. But again the unexpected has happened. 

 The new claimant for a place on the list is not a recognised 

 native of these islands, but that wanderer from the south on 

 which de Selys-Longchamps, in 1840, bestowed the name 

 Libellula fonscolombii — the Sympetrum fonscolombii (Selys) 

 of modern systematists. Three examples of this striking 

 insect were captured in the Forth area last summer, 

 on 30th July, nth August, and 17th August respectively. 

 Others were seen along with those taken on the first and 

 the last of these dates ; and there can be no doubt our 

 district was visited by part of a migratory flight, probably 

 from southern Europe. The simultaneous occurrence of 

 a considerable number in the south of England (Hampshire), 

 as recently announced by Mr W. J. Lucas, 1 was quite 

 likely another manifestation of the same migration. 



The first of the Forth specimens to be recognised was a 

 female captured by myself on the Isle of May, at the 

 mouth of the Firth of Forth, on 17th August 191 1. About 

 6.30 P.M., a few hours after landing on the island, I entered 

 for the second time the large garden below the principal 

 lighthouse-keeper's house, and there to my surprise saw 

 a very red medium-sized Dragon-fly hovering and darting in 

 the sunshine over some potato drills. It was a strong 

 flier ; and, after " hawking " without intermission for two or 

 three minutes, it suddenly disappeared over the wall without 

 having given me a chance to use the net, though once or 

 twice it hovered just beyond striking distance. Having waited 



1 Cf. Ent. Mo. Mag., November 191 1, p. 267. 



