i 4 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



when as already mentioned several were taken in Hampshire 

 in August, there were only 22 properly authenticated 

 and localised British specimens, of which no less than 

 17, all males, were taken at one locality in Surrey in June 

 1892, the others being from Kent (1881), Cornwall (June 

 1903), Hertfordshire (June and July 1908), and Surrey 

 (September 1908). 1 On the Continent the furthest north 

 locality mentioned by Ris is Mecklenburg. The recent 

 extension of its flight into Scotland is, therefore, an event 

 of very considerable interest. 



From Sympetrum striolatum, a not uncommon species in 

 many parts of Scotland, to which, more especially in the 

 female, it bears a strong superficial resemblance, 5. fons- 

 colombii is separated by well-marked structural characters. 

 In the female, for instance, the vulvar scale is, as described 

 by de Selys, deeply notched — almost bilobed, whereas in 

 striolatum it is only slightly notched. A peculiarity which 

 struck me in the specimen I caught was the grey colour of 

 the lower half of the eyes ; after death, however, this soon 

 changes to black. The saffron tint at the base of the hind 

 wings is likewise a good mark of distinction, as is also the 

 reddish (not black) nervures and pterostigma ; but these 

 points and the blood-red colour in the male are only seen to 

 advantage in living or newly-killed examples. 



In a paper I wrote some years ago on the Odonata of the 

 Forth Area, 2 I alluded to the appearance of a bright red 

 Dragon-fly on a tramway car at Bruntsfield, Edinburgh, 

 in July 1901. Perhaps it was a pioneering fonscolombii I 



My thanks are due to Messrs Grimshaw and Bowhill for 

 allowing me to record their specimens along with mine, and 

 to Mr Morton for assistance in a variety of ways. 



1 Cf. E. B. Speyer, Proc. E?it. Soc. Lond. for 1908, p. 55 ; and 

 W. J. Lucas, ibid., 1909, p. 65. 



2 Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc, xvi., p. 88, 1905. 



