1919.1 1<^1 



fly as numerous as midges in a swarm appear, or like the flakes of snow 

 in a snowstorm. Seen against the dark palm trees the effect was a sight 

 never to be forgotten. During the day the individuals, Avhich are rather 

 soft and flimsy, rest among the grass and willows and other bushes. 

 To-day, while coming through a small clump of willows at dusk in the 

 same locality, it suddenly struck me that some idea of the enoiTnous 

 numbers of these insects might be conveyed by the number which could 

 be netted in the air at one sweep. I was surrounded with branches, but 

 took one sweep from right to left at about four feet from the ground 

 and covering a space of about two yards only, owing to the bushes. 

 When I came to count the contents of the net I was surprised — there 

 were 26 specimens in it ! They were about equally numerous all round 

 for several hundred yards in all directions. Words fail to convey the 

 effect." 6.V.1918 : "I checked the number caught at one sweep of 

 the net by taking and counting four sweeps to-day by the Tigris, 

 five miles down-stream. The counts were 10, 11, 12, 19. As my net 

 had five holes, each as large as or larger than a five-shilling piece, and 

 the bottom was knotted to hold it together at all, it is likely as many 

 escaped as were counted. This dmgon-fly is equally abundant wherever 

 one goes, in gardens and by the river. It is a pest, as its swarms distract 

 the" eye from any other moving insect." 



Barraud also refers to the red colour of the males taken by him at 

 Basrah in October and November. 



The examples from Aniara in May are more or less teneral, and 

 there is nothing in the material or notes to show what happens in the 

 life of. the species until more mature individuals appear in October and 

 November. 



Ris (Coll. Zool. Selys, p. 029) notes variation in the valvula vulvae 

 of the female from certain localities. Bartenef (Faune de la Russie, 

 Insect. Pseudoneuropteres, tol. i, livr. 1, p. 317) treats Ris's species as 

 a form of S. vulgatum und6r the name of vulgatum-Jiavum, reserving 

 the name decoloratum for a form of striolatum. In reviewing my own 

 small material I am inclined to think that there may be two decolorate 

 forms included, the more robust looking from Van being very likely a 

 form of vulgatufii, while others from Quetta and the Caucasus resemble 

 those from Mesopotamia now under consideration. Similarly it may be 

 suggested tliat the $ figured from Amasia in Coll. Zool. Selys, p. 630, is 

 not the same as the 6 from the Malatia, the latter being the trae 

 Mesopotamian form, while the 5 ma}' be viilgatum-Jlavum the same as 

 the examples from Van. 



