January, 1884.] \QQ 



AN AX LONGIPES* 

 BY PROF. II. A. HAGEN. 



Spending my summer vacation at Woodsholl, on the south-eastern 

 coast of Massachusetts, opposite Martha's Vineyard Island, I saw on 

 the top of a hill a number of Papilio Asterias, eagerly hunted by a 

 large u^schnide, which I believed to be probably Anax Junius. 

 Finally a Papilio was caught by the hunter, which directly settled on 

 a shrub to devour its prey. Both were very soon in my net ; and, to 

 my surprise, I found a brick-red Anas, unknown to me ; it had the P. 

 Asterias still between its legs, but had cut off the head of it. Only 

 the following day, August 27th, 1875, when I caught, with difficulty, 

 another male, and finally a female, did I become aware that I had 

 before me the long-sought-for A. lonqipes. The species was by no 

 means rare, but very wild, in the woods, mostly swinging around the 

 tops of the trees, and on the hill, disappearing with the slightest 

 wind. I was, therefore, not able to get more specimens. Returning 

 home, I found, to my surprise, another female, collected March 3rd, in 

 Hannover, Florida, and a third female, caught in Florida, by Mr. R. 

 Thaxter, together with a P. Asterias, beheaded just as in my obser- 

 vation. My friend Uhler wrote to me that he had also collected at 

 the same time A. Jongipes, near Baltimore. Probably it is not well 

 known that, just the south-eastern shore of Massachusetts and the 

 islands Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, all subjected to the influence 

 of the gulf-stream, possess a number of insects not to be found in the 

 intermediate country down to Florida or Georgia, as Tramea abdomi- 

 naJis, Ascalaphus, and others. 



My notes about the colours of the living A. lonqipes are as 

 follows : — Head pale green, eyes dark reddish-brown, (^, bluish ? ; cJ, 

 thorax green ; legs as described in my Synopsis ; abdominal segments 

 1 and 2 green ; 1, with a basal brownish spot ; 2, with transversal 

 median stripe, a darker ante-apical spot, and two reddish-green 

 spots (two blue ones on the female) ; abdomen brick-red, 3 to 5 with 

 a brown, triangular, apical spot, less marked on 6 ; a triangular, basal, 

 brown spot on 4 and 5 : the following segments and appendages red : 

 ? , abdomen brown, segments 3 to 9 with two apical blue spots ; 3 to 

 7 with two blue basal spots ; 4 to 6 with two intermediate blue s])ots ; 

 appendages light brown. 



I have several times written about lonqipes. In my description 

 (Synops. N. A. Neur., p. 118), the word "surface" for the abdomen, 



* cf. ante, p. 129. 



