160 



INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



Virgin dragon-fly (Calcpferyx Virgo). 



art." One {Calepteryx Virgo?), he adds, "is of a 

 most curious colour ; the body blue or sky-colour, 

 the wing's of a bright violet ; the space between the 

 shoulders is adorned with four golden gems, set, as it 

 were, in a blackish collet/' Another he describes as 

 having " the eyes blue, the head green, the whole 

 body mixed with green and blue, except the wings, 

 which are most accurately wrought with silver-colour 

 and black, in the middle shadowed with a dark 

 purple*." 



Voracious, however, as these insects undoubtedly 

 are, they are far exceeded by the white ants {Ter- 

 mites) of warm climates. Forbes tells us that on 

 surveying a room which had been locked up during 

 an absence of a few weeks, he observed a number of 

 advanced works t in various directions towards some 

 prints and drawings in English frames, the glasses 

 of which appeared more than usually dull, and 

 the frames covered with dust. *' On attempting,'* 

 * Theatre of Insects, p. 943. f See Insect Architecture, p. 289. 



