LIBELLULA 221 
Pen weosta whites face: white is) e.6ey che ae. ul es composita, p. 227 
Costa Hot whites face not whitest. 3): .5 ais 2). Dale Pal fee ae 13. 
13 Hind wing with basal brown streak reaching at least the third 
iGo) 00010 28 RAS A CA Nba EAC a ea ts NN SG.) ar 3 14. 
Brown streak wanting, or nearly so.............. incesta, p. 227 
14 Frons white above; post nodal area hyaline...... vibrans, p. 228 
Frons metallic blue above, post nodal area streaked with black 
Dh es ware Dunya Caw aai ga ai. alice ia Una axillena, p. 229 & 
190. Libellula luctuosa Burmeister 
The Widow 
Burm. ’39, p. 861: Mtk. Cat. p. 138: Ris ’10, p. 263: Wlsn. ’12, p. 194: Howe. 
’20, p. 71: Garm. ’27, p. 248. 
Syn: basalis Say, odiosa Hagen 
Length 47 mm. Expanse 84 mm. Me. and N. D. to N. Mex. and Fla. 
A blackish species of moderate size easily recognized by the broad basal bands 
of the wings. Face obscure yellowish becoming blackish with age. Top of frons 
and vertex becoming metallic purplish with age. Body brown striped with yellow 
becoming pruinose blue on dorsal side. Hair fringes on occiput and on collar, 
yellow. Front of thorax brown with a rather broad middle pale stripe; sides 
with 2 broad oblique streaks of yellow separated by brown crossing the sutures. 
Legs blackish, paler at bases and beneath the front femora. Wings marked with 
brown, as shown in figure; stigma black. Abdomen blackish striped with yellow; 
stripes broad, the dorsal pair confluent on segment 1 and more widely separated 
to rearward by the deepening middorsal black stripe; inferior stripes visible 
at sides of segments 1-8. Appendages blackish. 

Fia. 39. The Widow, Libellula luctuosa. 
This is a common pond species in the Mississippi valley. It flies 
rather steadily over the ponds resting occasionally on reed tips. It is 
not very hard to capture. In the cool of the evening adults may be 
found hanging by their feet to the sloping twigs of nearby shrubbery. 
