1 1 6 British DragojiJIies. 



them. They did not fl\' very high, and seemed to avoid 

 going into open doors and windows. Some hundred.s 

 or so ahghted on the goosebcrr\' bushes, apple, and pear 

 trees in the garden, but never touched the fruit. [An 

 ahnost unnecessary observation, seeing that all Dragon- 

 flies are animal feeders !] I obscrxcd one sitting on 

 the dead tip of an apple-twig, and I pushed it off with 

 my stick thirteen times, the insect returning each time 



after flying away about fi\e or six }'ards The 



flight ended that night about 8 p.m., having been 

 incessant for more than twelve hours. On the 27th 

 they appeared again about noon, fl}'ing the same course, 

 but in much reduced forces. Each day since I have 



seen a few, but very few The papers sa)' the}^ 



were observed in all Southern and Central Sweden, and 

 in many places in Denmark, and they swarmed about 

 the ships in the Sound. With their disappearance came 

 the hot weather." One is lost in conjecture as to the 

 position of the sheets of water in which so large a 

 number of insects could ha\e been nurtured, and as 

 to the host of small creatures, man}' times as numerous 

 as themselves, that they must have destroyed in reaching 

 maturity. 



In 1888, Mr. S. Pender, master of the " Swin Middle" 

 Light-vessel, off the Esse.x coast, reported that on June 

 23, from 6 to 8 p.m., a flcjck of Dragonflies, which 

 proved to be L. qiiaiiriiiiaculata, came on board and 

 rested on the ropes and even on the cal)le the \-essel 

 was moored with, from the bows down close to the 

 water's edge. The wind was \\. hy S., and the weather 

 fair and clear. ... In 18S9, Mr. If. Gatke, writing 

 from Heligoland, said that on Ma\' 2 1 and 22, Lihcllnla 



