154 



Records of the Indian Museum. 



[Vol. XIX, 



ter of age, and perhaps of sex ; the females that I have seen are all 

 very similar, as are the young males, whose thoracic colouring is 

 identical with that of the females. The adult male, as in the 

 species L. praemorsa, Selys, develops much black colouring. 



The shape of the metallic-green bands of the thorax, which 

 are, as Kirby remarks, securiform behind, are characteristic of the 

 species, whilst the deeply angled margin of segment lo also 

 distinguishes it from L. praemorsa (seetext-fior. 2 and PI. V, fig. 5). 



Since the above was writen, I have received a young male of 

 this species from Karachi, kindly sent me by Major F. C. Fraser. 



8. Lcstes dccipiens, Kirby, 



Lestes decipiens, Kirby, Jotirn. Linn. Soc. Zool. XXIV, pp. 565-566 (1S93). 



I could not find examples of this species in the British 

 Museum. It is evidently very closely allied to L. Praemorsa, Selys, 

 and may be a local race. The British Museum has several 

 examples of the latter species from Ceylon. 



9- Lestes praemorsa, Selys. f 

 (PI. V, fig. 6 and text-fig. 3). 



Lestes praemorsus, Kirby, Cat. Odonata, p. 162. 

 ,, ,, Selys, Odonafes de Birmaiiie. 



., ,, ¥^x\xgcx,\Stettin Entomol. Zeit. 1898, p. 130. 



,, ,, Laidlavv, Proc. Zool. Soc. Land. 1902, p. 382. 



I cf ad. Sibsagar (5. E. Peal) ^^- (labelled by de Selys), 



1 9 imperfect, Sibsagar, N.E. Assam {S.E. Peal) ^^>i (labelled 



by de Selys). 



2 cf cf I $ Sitong, ca. 4000 ft,, near Mangphu, Darjiling 



district (5. Kemp) 6-vii-i8, ?^ei'. 



This species is I think closely allied to L, elata, Selys. Both 

 of them agree in that the adult males undergo melanotic develop- 

 ment, and in both the anal appendages are much alike, 



L. praemorsa, however, appears 

 on our present knowledge to 

 have a much wider range than 

 its relative ; and when better 

 known I have no doubt that it 

 will be possible to distinguish 

 local races for it, 



I have been able to examine 



specimens at the British iNIuseum 



from the Celebes and Ceylon. 



Those from the former locality 



are at once distinguishable from 



the N. Indian examples by the difference in the thoracic pattern, 



which seems constant. The British Museum examples from 



Celebes seem to be distinct from the form for which de Selys pro- 



Text-ftg. 3. — Thoracic colour pat- 

 tern of L, praemorsa, Selys 5 , 

 Darjiling district, 4,000 ft. 



