206 DRAGONFLIES OF NORTH AMERICA 
Syn: metella Selys, tenuicinta Say, chlora Rambur, Var: mooma Kirby, 
seminole Calv., tenera Say. 
Length 22 mm. Expanse 38 mm. Mass. and Wis. to Fla., Tex. and Ariz. 
A small brownish species with amber tinted and brown spotted wings. Face 
yellowish, darker above, greenish across the clypeus, brownish at sides and on 
top of frons. Vertex and occiput brown. Thorax brown, densely clothed with 
soft brown hairs beneath which appear obscure stripes of yellow, the pair on the 
front parallel with the carina and wide apart; the 2 on the sides interrupted in 
the middle portion, the lower ends appearing as roundish spots of considerable 
size. Legs yellowish with black spines. Wings tinted all over with amber yellow; 
stigma reddish; a touch of brown at the extreme base and another at the outer 
angle of the triangles in both wings. In the 9 there is additional brown spreading 
forward from the triangle and backward from the nodus, as indicated in the 
accompanying figure, Abdomen short, stout, a little compressed at base, de- 
pressed towards the middle and tapered towards the end; obscure brownish in 
color, paler laterally and beneath. Appendages yellow, superiorly. 
A southern form, doubtfully distinct, having a little more yellow on 
the thorax where the side stripes are continuous, and much more brown 
color on the wings, where in the male distinct brown spots surmount the 
triangles, and in the females, the cross bands of brown are much more 
extensive, described by Calvert as subsp. seminole, has been ranked by 
Dr. Ris as a separate species; but in a large series of specimens we can 
find no constant differences. 
P. domitia is a “timid, weak species, loving the sunshine.” (Mtk. ’08, 
p. 106.) 
Tenerals fly in upland fields often resting on the flowers of the ox-eye daisies; 
adults fly over the pools of standing water. (Brimley ’03, p. 154). 
On Lake Madison (Wis.) it was present in great numbers about the beds of 
yellow water lillies and Potamogeton in the quieter bays, now flitting over and 
now resting upon the lily pads and never far above the surface. (Whed. ’14, 
p. 101.) 
Mr. F. G. Schaupp observed this species at Double Horn Creek near 
Shovel Mount, Texas, perched on sticks fixed in the middle of the 
creek. They would return repeatedly to the same place after a long, 
low roundabout flight, often of ten minutes duration. 
Our own observations are that this species flies low over the surface 
of the water, and rests frequently on the tops of low stems and twigs 
near the shore. It perches horizontally with fore and hind wings often 
unequally lifted. The female oviposits unattended by the male often on 
floating masses of partly dead blanket algae, dipping her abdomen to 
the surface a dozen or more times in rapid succession at points only a 
few inches distant. 
