4. THE EGGS 
The eggs of dragonflies are very numerous, especially those of 
dragonflies that drop their eggs at random in the water. The senior 
author once obtained 5200 eggs from an ovipositing female of Gomphus 
externus that had already deposited a part of her stock. They are less 
numerous when carefully bestowed in punctures of plant stems, where 
they are less liable to be smothered by silt. They differ in shape also 
according to the manner of oviposition. Eggs dropped free are in 
general oblong oval; eggs inserted into plant stems are much more 
slender and elongate. 

Fic. 23. Eggs. 1. Anax junius (line k. k. indicates depth of insertion into 
cat tail. 2. Hagenius brevistylus. 3. Gomphus descriptus. 4. Cordulia shurtleffi. 
5. Plathemis lydia. 6. Leucorhinia glacialis. 7. Celithemis eponina. 8. Perithemis 
domitia. 9. Tramea lacerata. (g. indicates gelatinous envelope). 
It is the Clubtails (Gomphinae) and the Skimmers (Libellulidae) 
that scatter their eggs; and it is easy to get the eggs of these if one can 
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