1 88 BritisJi Dragonflies. 



flat ground or moors. "^ In the same localit}-, in 1889, 

 Messrs. Morton and King found that the)' frequented 

 the roadsides and open swampy places near the Black 

 Wood.t Mr. Porritt, in 1898, speaks of the species as 

 occurring about the Black Wood, always aicay from 

 water, flying o\er the heaths and heathery portions of 

 the \\'Ood in the bright sunshine ; not a single one was 

 seen over the loch, or the locken abo\c the \\'ood, nor 

 even about the smaller pools. He is inclined to think 

 that the species may breed in the wet mossy ground, 

 and not in the pools.;]: Mr. l^riggs sa}'s that acrnlca 

 flew in the little open spaces in the Black Wood, 

 rarely wandering into the open moor. These open 

 spaces contain little permanent pools fed b}' natural 

 drainage, and in these, no doubt of much greater mag- 

 nitude in the A\inter, dcntlca is probabl}' bred. In 

 its haunts are marsh}' places and deep holes and gullies, 

 interspersed with hillocks covered with very high heather 

 and fallen trees, rendering collecting difficult and active 

 pursuit positivel)' dangerous. In such localities it is fond 

 of settling on stumps, or among the whitened boughs of 

 a dead and fallen tree, where it is j^racticall}- safe from 

 the net, or on stones and similar basking places, \\here 

 it is \-ery shy. In the afternoon it frequentl}' settled on 

 fir-trunks in the manner noticed of its congeners, J/iinra 

 and grandis, in the Entomologist, \o\. xxvii., p. 350. 

 Mr. Briggs mentioned how one, with a misplaced con- 

 fidence, actuall}- settled on his face ; while on one oc- 

 casion a male made the great mistake of settling on the 

 breast of Mr. Morton's coat and looking him in the face. 



*E. .M. M.. 1K.5, p. 117. t^- ^I- ^I- i^'S''. !'• o'^ij- 



;j; luitom.. p. 87, 1899. 



