S-2 NEUROPTERA. 



Order. NEUROPTERA. Limmus. 



.ESHNA CLAVATA. 



Plate 45. fig. i. 



Family. LiniiLi.ULiDA^., Leach. 



Genus. jEsiina, Fabr. Libellula p. Linn. Donov. Cordulegaster, Leach. 



Cii. Sp. tE. abdomiiie clavato, basi tfibbo ; corpore nigro, fusco viridique variegato. Expans. 

 alar. 3i unc. 

 M. with the abdomen clavate gibbose at the base ; body black, varied with brown and 

 green; stigma brown. Expanse of the wings 3 J inches. 



Syn. iEshna clavata, Fahr. Ent. Syst. II. ;>. 385. Spec. Ins. 1. p. .526. 4. 



Linnseiis divides the dragon flies (Libellula, Linn) into two sections: — " L alis paten- 

 tibus acquiescentes ;"' and "2. (alis erectis) oculi distantes remotique." Fabricius divides 

 the Linnasan Libellulse into three distinct genera ; the first retains the Linnaean name, 

 the second and third are called Aeshna and Agrion. Their most essential characters 

 are taken from the form and situation of the mouth, and therefore require a deep magnifier 

 to determine them with accuracy. Donovan states, tliat he had examined those parts in 

 the greater number of the species Fabricius has described, and found his characters agree, 

 except in one instance ; which Donovan nevertheless considered a proof of the impracti- 

 cability of adopting the whole of his system : he describes Libellula Chinensis, and refers 

 to the only figure that has been given of it, in one of the plates of Edwards's Natural 

 Hi.story of Birds, 1745.* Had Fabricius ever seen and examined this rare species, he 

 must have referred it to his genus Agrion, each of the lips being bifid, or two-cleft, as 

 in Libellula virgo and puella, — the essential characteristic of the genus Agrion ; for the 

 mouths of the Libellulse of Fabricius differ altogether in structure, and are not notched 

 in the slightest degree, as Libellula clavata, ferruginea, 6-maculata, and the European 

 species, Libellula depressa, will sufliciently illustrate. 



Donovan, however, rejecting the Fabrician generic distribution, states, that iEshna 

 clavata must be arranged with L. grandis and forcipata ; but it is nearer allied to Cor- 

 dulegaster annulatus, Leach (Libellula Boltoni of Donovan's British Insects.) 



* That Fabricius should have erred in the location of a species which he had never .seen, but knew only 

 tl]roiij;h a rude figure, is not surprizing; but surely such a circumstance can lie no proof of the impropriety of 

 a system founded, as Donovan clearly shews, on characters of stability. J. O. VV. 



