ARGIA 301 
While this, the most beautiful of the Argias, may occur generally throughout 
the whole of its range, it is found commonly only in the eastern states and 
southern Canada, where it becomes the dominant species of its genus. It fre- 
quents all types of aquatic situations but seems to prefer the dense reed grown 
banks of rivers and streams. 
Male.—Mouth parts and head below gray. Frons, clypeus and genae purple 
or deep violet. Vertex mainly black. Large postocular spots and postocellar 
stripe gray or violet. Prothorax with the anterior lobe pale on the dorsum; 
middle lobe black with a large spot on either side and the sides inferiorly, violet; 
posterior lobe violet except two small lateral lines of black. Thorax (p. 289) 
with the middorsal black stripe not quite as wide as the pale antehumeral stripe. 
Humeral black stripe irregular and forked in its posterior third. Third lateral 
suture with a black line covering it. Sides of the thorax violet shading into gray 
along the dark stripes. Abdomen purple, black as follows: a basal, dorsal and 
lateral spots on 1; sides of 2 except apical fifth; sterna, pleura, narrow apical 
rings, and a lateral apical spot on segments 3-6, the latter occupying about one- 
fifth to one-fourth of the segment, on segments 5-6 at least they unite with their 
) Boel 
violacea vivida 

fellow from the opposite side across the dorsum, and are broadly joined with the 
black apical ring. Segment 7 entirely black, except for a narrow basal pale ring. 
Segments 8-10 purple on the dorsum black on the sides 
Female.—The color similar to the male, the purple, however, in many speci- 
mens being replaced by brown. Head and thorax similar to the male. Abdomen 
with more black than the male, segments 2—9 with dorso-lateral stripes which are 
broad enough on segments 6-7 to fuse on the meson; lateral surface of 9 and all 
of 10 buff. 
Pallens a subspecies of violacea is found in Arizona and Mexico, it 
differs from violacea type by having the humeral stripe of the thorax 
reduced to a mere line and the pale color of seg. 7 predominating. 
292. Argia vivida Hagen 
Hag. ’65, p. 406: Mtk. Cat. p. 52: Kndy. ’15, pp. 288, 298: ’20, p. 84: Smn. ’27, 
p. 13. 
Var: munda Calv., var. plana Calv. 
Length 34-38 mm. Expanse 46-52 mm. B. C. and Mont. to Tex. and Calif. 
A mountain species of Argia found commonly around springs and the boggy 
streamlets flowing from them. 
Male.—Head pale beneath, mouth parts buff. Face blue. Ocellar region black 
with pale spots in the region of the ocelli. Postocular region blue except for a 
narrow black line on the posterior margins of the head. Prothorax pale blue 
with a pair of heavy median longitudinal black stripes on the dorsum, and a 
