Sympctruvt. 85 



his position to a little distance and repeated the 

 process ; each time the surface was beaten b)' one 

 stroke, and only the abdomen of the female touched the 

 Vv'ater. Continued observation made it clear that but one 

 egg was dropped at a time, and that looseh', in the 

 water.* 



The observer referred to above secured an Q^^, just 

 laid, and the female that laid it, with her partner. The 

 G&g was solitary, almost globular, pale amber-coloured, 

 ;\mm. in diameter. She laid afterwards 123 more, 

 each loosely, in a box. A dying female, however, 

 deposited her eggs in one bunch in a box, but they 

 appeared not to be impregnated, and were got rid of in 

 her dying struggles. 



Date. 



August and September seem to be the onh' months 

 recorded for this species in England, but De Sel}-s sa}'s 

 it is often found in Belgium in October, and even in 

 the beginning of November. 



Habits. 



On Ockham Common, in Surrey, and near Elstead, 

 in the same county, in September, 1898, this Dragonfly 

 seemed to like to flit about and settle at every few 

 yards, either on the ground or on the herbage, after the 

 manner of many of the brown butterflies. In the former 

 localit}' it appeared to m^ake for the blossoms of the 

 Marsh S. John's Wort (Hypericiiin elodes), though, of 



A. Miiller, E. M. M., 1S71, p. 127. 



