144 fJune, 



the late autumn of 1918, rather too far on in the season for many 

 dragon-flies, that he moved from this point, first to lluz, at the foot of 

 the Jebel Hamrin range of hills, north-east of Baghdad, and later pro- 

 ceeded to Kisil Robat, on his way to Kermanshah in Persia, at which 

 place he was attacked by dysentery, which put an end to his work for 

 the time being. Thus most of his insects came from the lower Tigris, 

 and the specimens from Captain Buxton and Lieutenant Barraud are 

 entirely from the lower sections of the great rivers. There is, however, 

 enough to indicate the existence of a very interesting dragon-fly fauna 

 containing representatives of the Mediterranean region mixed with 

 Indian and Ethiopian elements. Bracliythemisfiiscopalliata appears to 

 be a species of restricted range, as far as I know recorded from no other 

 region than Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. The great abundance 

 of Selysioihemis nigra is worthy of special mention, and a somewhat 

 aberrant Ischnura appears to he new. It is also of much interest to 

 find that several species recorded by Bartenef from Bokhara occur 

 commonly on the Tigris (Revue Russe d'Entom., xiii, 1913, No. 1, 

 pp. 176-189). 



The dragon- flies of Mesopotamia are included in de Selys' " Odonates 

 de I'Asie Mineure " (Annales Soc. Ent. Belgique, xxxi, pp. 1-49). In that 

 paper 83 species in all are recorded, but mostly from the Mediterranean 

 coasts and the more northern parts of Asia Minor, relatively few being 

 mentioned as from Mesopotamia and most of these European species 

 from Malatia, which is hardly to be considered as coming within the 

 boundaries of Meso^jotamia at all. Other isolated records may exist, 

 but not much of importance, and it would perhaps be premature to 

 attempt even a preliminary list until something has been done in the 

 way of exploring the northern parts of the country and the hills and 

 valleys to the east of the Tigris. It is almost certain that important 

 additions to the list will eventually be found there, and may include 

 interesting species that have been recorded from Asia Minor, the 

 Caucasus, Northern Persia, Turkestan, and away farther east to 

 Kashmir. 



In the lower part of the region at least the elunate seems to be 

 almost tropical, and Captain Evans says that dragon-flies are found all 

 the year round. He mentions, for example, seeing quite a number of 

 Crocotliemis in a sunny field at Kisil Robat in December (one of his 

 specimens is dated the last day of the year), and in the other winter 

 months the same species occurred (although in much reduced numbers 

 comj)ared with the summer) in Avarm sheltered places on sunny days, 

 De Selys' original record of B. fusGopalliata is based on specimens from 



