CELITHEMIS 207 
The nymph stands up well on its slender legs and crawls rather 
actively, and is clean and smooth of body surface. It seems to prefer 
emergent stumps as a place of transformation. The senior author 
found one lone oak stump in Benmar Lake near Brewster, N. Y., fairly 
sprinkled with cast skins, while there were none on the emergent weeds 
round about. 
It appears on the wing about the end of May, and flies through June. 
Its flight is rather weak, and a bit clumsy and slow. When over water 
it habitually avoids the altitude of the larger and stronger species, 
keeping down nearer the surface. It is very sensitive to cloudiness and 
moisture, being seldom seen in flight except when the sun is shining. 
The female is sometimes held by the male while ovipositing, but I 
have seen her oftener unattended, dropping her eggs on bits of floating 
dead pond scum by many successive dips made at very nearly the same 
spot. When a female was taken in hand and “dipped” to the surface 
of water in a tumbler, 10 to 20 eggs were liberated by her at each de- 
scent. 
The egg (fig. 8, p. 000) is oblong oval, at first white, turning brownish 
gray after a few hours; its surface is closely beset with minute tubercu- 
late granulations. The gelatinous envelop is scanty. 
The nymphs (Ndm. ’01, p. 513) clamber about over trashy sub- 
merged vegetation; they climb well, but swim very poorly. They are 
cleaner and less sprawling than the Libellulas. The nymph goes no 
farther from the edge of the water to transform than is necessary to 
find a suitable place—generally but a few inches. 
It will be readily distinguished from the other Libellulinae by the 
possession of a dorsal hook on the 9th abdominal segment. The pre- 
ceeding dorsal hooks are large, flat and cultriform. 
38. CELITHEMIS Hagen 
This genus contains a large number of very beautiful species, the 
wings being richly tinted with brown and gold, and sometimes veined 
with red. The body is slender, the abdomen being little swollen at the 
base. The legs are slender. There is considerable variation in the vena- 
tion of the wings, but the bisector of the anal loop is always nearly 
straight. 
All the species belong to our fauna, and are restricted to the eastern 
United States. They are common pond and marsh species. Their 
flight is more fluttering and butterfly-like than that of most dragonflies. 
The nymphs are climbers among submerged vegetation. They are 
rather smooth and usually clean, with slender legs and rather sharp, 
