NO. 2192. 



DRAGONFLIES, CALIpdRNIA AND NEVADA— KENNEDY. 519 



I saw a female oviposit and a chance acquaintance described to me 

 the manner of oviposition of another female that agreed with my 

 own observations, which are as follows: The female flew hm-riedly 

 up the creek and every few yards stopped and with a sudden backing 

 or downward stroke, while hovering with the body in a perpendiciilar 

 position, stabbed her large ovipositor into the coarse sand along the 

 stream edge where the water was about 1 inch deep. She thus thrust 

 her abdomen down tlirough the inch of water driving her ovipositor 

 into the sand beneath. Four to ten such perpendicular thrusts were 

 made at each stop. Some stops were along the open beaches, but 

 more were in quiet nooks between large rocks where she would have 

 barely room enough for her wing expanse. She usually faced the 

 center of the stream wliile ovipositing, though once she faced upstream 

 and once toward the bank. The pecuhar perpendicular position with 

 the up and do\vn motion reminded me strongly of the manner of 



Fig. 144.— Vulvar lamina and ovipositors (from Ris) in: A. Sympetrxju freqxtens. B. S-i-mpetrum 



MATUTINUM. C. SYMPETRUM EROTICUM, VENTRAL VIEW. D. SAME, LATERAL VIEW. E. SYMPETRUM 

 CORDULEGASTER. F. URACIS OVIPOSITRIX. 



oviposition of some crane fhes, except that the latter oviposit in damp 

 soil and support themselves on their slender legs while making the 

 vertical thrusts. Figure 146 shows the position of the female while 

 ovipositing. 



Tliis large shovel-shaped ovipositor is found in few species of Odo- 

 nata. It is characteristic of the subfamily Cordulegasterinae and is 

 found in a few species of the Libellulinae. This is the third of those 

 species which have this style of ovipositor, in which oviposition has 

 been observed. After the matter had puzzled naturahsts for many 

 years, oviposition was first observed for the European Cordulegasier 

 annulatus Latreille by Ris, who described it as follows: ^ 



Cordulegaster (annulatus), when ovipositing, flew vertically. It thrust the hinder- 

 most pointed part of the abdomen vertically in the crumbled limestone deposit on the 

 bottom of the very shallow water. 



1 Ent. News, vol. 16, 1905, p. 113. 



