British Dragoiijiics. 



with a distant sight only of his beauty ; till, growing 

 less cautious, he moves a little out of his usual track, 

 approaches too near his watchful foe, and exchanges his 

 freedom in the bright sunshine for the narrow limits of 

 the collector's net. 



Or, maybe, a picture arises of some forest stream 

 o'erhung \\\\\\ the luxuriant foliage of ash and alder, 

 where the current, rippling over its stony bed, sprinkles 

 the bright green ferns and other plants that clothe its 

 shady margins — even such a stream as the well-known 

 L}'mington River, where it wanders through some of the 

 wildest and most beautiful parts of the New Forest, 

 often in its meanderings almost lost amongst the thick 

 and tangled vegetation that is found along its course. 

 Such is the home of the gorgeous blue-winged " Demoi- 

 selle," or " King George " ; "^ without doubt the most 

 resplendent of our Dragonflics, if not of all British 

 insects. Handsome enough it looks in the cabinet ; but 

 to be seen at its best it must be watched as it flutters 

 along the streams in the patches of sunlight that filter 

 through the foliage, and in which its colours vie with 

 those of the kingfisher, whose lovely haunts it shares. 



Or yet another scene of an entirely different nature 

 arises in the mind — lengths of flowery ditches, or 

 peaceful slumbering streams, stretching through world- 

 old meaclowlands — such streams as are Thames' 

 tributaries in some of the more fertile parts of man}'- 

 featured Surrey. Here in June, while summer is young 

 and vegetation fresh and green, when the shallow 

 margins of the streams are bands of gorgeous blossoms, 

 and the banks are knee-deep in luxuriant grass and 



* Caloptcrvx ^'irsio. 



