698 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvu. 



Su1>raiTiily M:^CRO]VLIIIsrA.K.« 

 EPOPHTHALMIA ELEGANS Brauer. 



There is in the National Museum a single alcoholic specimen of 

 njnuph of this magniticent species, received through Oberlin College 

 from Rev. Cyrus M. Clark, Miyazaki, Japan. It agrees entirely with 

 the descrii)tion given by Cabot of one in the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology, from Canton, China,* but is a larger specimen: Length, 40 

 mm.; abdomen, 25 mm. ; hind femur, 14 mm. ; width of head, 8 mm. ; of 

 abdomen, 14 nun. There are in the Cornell University collection a 

 number of imagos received from the same source. I have compared 

 the venation in the wings of nymph and imagos, and have fully satisfied 

 myself that the nymph belongs to this species. The nymphal wings 

 are distinctly spotted with blackish brown, as described in Cabot's 

 paper, but it does not follow therefrom, as supposed in that paper, 

 that the wings of the imago would be likewise spotted. In Pdnfala 

 iiavescens there are conspicuous spots of brown upon the nodus of 

 the nymphal wings, which, as everybody knows, are wanting in the 

 wings of the imago. I believe that these markings are ontogenetic 

 and that the developmental tendency is generally toward hyalinity 

 of wing membrane, and not toward infuscation. 



This species differs from the more typical species of EpopJithalmia 

 by characters which I believe Avill be regarded as justifying its generic 

 separation. Aside from its huge stature, its singular color pattern, 

 its unusual proportions in length of male abdominal appendages, and 

 its smaller number of cubito-anal cross veins, it has three other char- 

 acters in contradistinction to the more typical species of JEpophthalmia 

 that 1 regard of generic importance: (1) Its cubital vein where it 

 borders the subtriangle is straight and strong; in the others it is weak 

 and angulate. (2) Its radial sector is gently and regularly curved; in 

 the others it is broken and distinctly ajog opposite the distal end of 

 the radial supplement. (3) Its ninth abdominal segment in the male 

 bears above a truncated cone; in the others it bears two basal denticles. 



Since this is the largest and one of the most peculiar members of 

 the fauna of the Land of the Dragonfly, I would suggest as an appro- 

 priate name for a new genus to contain it the classical Japanese name 

 Azuma.^ 



"The use of the name Sjinthemiincc for this subfamily in Bull. 111. State Lab. of 

 Nat. Hist , VI, p. 5, was due to enforced haste in printing, whereby proof corrections 

 made by me were not received by the ])rinter in time for incorporation into the text. 



& Immature State of the Odonata, Pt. 3, 1890, pp. 9-11, pi. i, fig. 1-ld. 



cMy friend and pupil, Mr. S. Asada, of Tokio, informs me that the children with 

 whom he played as boy would sometimes capture a female of this species, tether her 

 with a thread, and use her as a decoy to lure the males within their reach. 



