



3. THE IMMATURE STAGES 
. ENERALLY speaking, dragonflies in their 
: immature stages fall into three more or 
: less distinct behavior groups: climbers, 
2 i sprawlers and burrowers. They are very 
7 IN different in appearance from the adults, and 
RAs altogether different in manner of life. They 
have but one habit in common with the 
adults; they are all carnivorous. 
The more active ones climb about in the submerged weed beds or 
cling to the stems of reeds or to roots. The nymphs of the darners 
(Aeschninae) and of the damselflies (Zygoptera) are of this habit. 
These very slowly and stealthily steal, cat-like, upon their prey, with 
head poised low, and when it is within reach, catch it with a flash. 
Some of these climbing forms are rather prettily colored in patterns 
of green and brown. 
The more sluggish sprawlers lie flat 
upon the bottom amid the silt with 
legs outspread. Protected by their 
coloration and often by a coat of ad- 
herent silt that hides them perfectly, 
they wait in ambush until their prey 
wanders within reach. Here in the 
accompanying figure is shown a nymph 
which lay still so long that a rapidly 
growing spray of Plumatella attached 
itself to the back of the nymph, anchor- 
ing it in place. Would a nymph so an- 
chored, when grown, have beer able 4. 13 Naemon celimosrdalin 
to transform? Some of the most slug- overgrown with Bryozoans. 
gish of the sprawlers such as the 
nymphs of the belted skimmers (Macromiinae), are among the most 
fleet and wide ranging of adult dragon flies. 
The burrowers are the nymphs of the club-tails (Gomphinae). They 
live shallowly buried in the silt and sand of the bottom, with the up- 
turned tip of the abdomen reaching up to the water for respiration. 
They lie so near the surface that the footfalls of their prey walking 
overhead, or the wriggling as of blood worms in their tubes, may 
3l 
