﻿138 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



individual was to be seen after a week of August. I fancy all 

 British-bred imagines are practically confined to July, and are at 

 their zenith just before the middle of that month, except perhaps 

 in such exceptional summers as that of 1911. On the wing 

 S. fonscolomhii looks larger than S. str'tolatum, and many 

 examples are as large or larger. Two of my Wareham males 

 were slightly, and one much, affected with the characteristic red 

 mite ; the rest were free from this parasite. On all the dates 

 examples varied much, especially the females, as regards the 

 glassiness or suffusion of the wings. There was scarcely a single 

 S. striolatwm at the Wareham Pond in July, but in August, when 

 S. fonscolomhii was over, it became commoner. This fact quite 

 gave an idea of antagonism between the species. They were 

 always more equal in numbers at Knighton. The more lovely 

 and majestic species hovers more constantly, evenly, and calmly 

 low down over the water than does S. striolatum, and basks on 

 the bare, sandy margins of its chosen pond, more warily perhaps, 

 but in the ostentatious manner of Pyrameis atalanta. 1 quite 

 came to the conclusion that its apparent extreme wariness was 

 in fact largely due to restlessness, and, on one occasion at least, 

 a bad shot at the male needed only to be followed by a patient 

 motionless crouching at the spot, in order to effect a capture 

 over the very place where the former stroke was made. The 

 beauty of this dragonfly, when it is in numbers, is un- 

 imaginable. 



On May 20th at Morden on the fir-surrounded swamps as 

 many C cenea, B. pratense, Libellula quadrimaculata, and L. 

 fidva, Miill., could be seen and taken as would satisfy the most 

 ardent collector. Especially easy of capture were they towards 

 the end of the afternoon. I can say the same of Anax imperator , 

 Leach, at West Knighton Pond on June 19th (when I .took six 

 specimens, including one pair in copula, two males at once which 

 were toying together, and two singly, in an incredibly short 

 time), and of Orthetrum cancellatum, Linn., at East Lulworth 

 Pond on June 24th and 27th. The females of both these species 

 appeared far rarer than the males. In fact, all but one or two 

 of the species (such as JEschna mixta, Latr.) mentioned in my 

 list of Dorset Odonata {vide Entom. xlv. p. 201) have been very 

 common here this season. But again I have not taken 

 A. mercuriale, nor have I been able to add to that list any fresh 

 species, save S. fonscolomhii, which I must have overlooked in 

 1911. Incidentally, I might mention that on one or two 

 occasions in favourable autumns I have seen a specimen of 

 S. striolatum as late as the beginning of December at Gallon, and 

 of ^E. cyanea at the end of November at Owermoigne. Mr. 

 Hermann Lea has assisted me much in my quest of the Odonata 

 of Dorset." 



