34 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



localities had changed during the last few years. They were 

 drier,— the Scotch firs and birches had grown up, overshadowing 

 the ground, and P. minium had disappeared. So it is with other 

 insects than dragonflies ; over-collecting, no doubt, has much to 

 answer for, but, let an insect's habitat be transformed, — for ex- 

 ample, if a marsh, let it be drained, — and the place thereof shall 

 know it no more. 



There is a large pond away in the depths of the Delamere 

 woods which I have often come across when seeking for the early 

 spring moths. It looks as though its margins had once been 

 cared for, as if some one had thought of making its banks a 

 dwelling-place, had even set about it, and then left it to its silent 

 loneliness. I put it down as a likely place for dragonflies, and 

 so June 24th found me thither bound. But I could not find it, 

 do as I would. The whole neighbourhood looked changed in its 

 garb of ferns and green leaves ; the pond was hidden, and I 

 could not get a sight of it. So I gave it up for the time, took 

 my bearings from the sun (a trick taught by sad experience), 

 and made my way to some marshy, ditchy, unfrequented ground. 

 There I came across P. minium, as I had never met with the 

 species before, in hundreds. 



I think Mschna juncea has not been as plentiful with us as 

 in other seasons ; but M. grandis was quite up to its usual 

 numbers. The excessive heat and drought dried up many of 

 juncea's ponds and marshes, while the deeper pits of grandis 

 survived. What an interesting dragonfly M. grandis is, — how 

 voracious, and almost nocturnal ! Hold him by the wings, and 

 he will coolly bite anything from a nail down to cotton-wool. 

 He will bite your finger if you present it to him, but without 

 animosity. His ruling passion is simply something to eat. I 

 have frequently tried his biting powers, but my epidermis always 

 turns his mandibles ; and I have not yet persuaded anyone 

 thinner skinned to submit to the experiment. As to his 

 nocturnal habits, I saw one hawking along a hedge in the deep 

 twilight of a still, warm August night, — date, August 6th ; 

 time, 8.30. The rising moon was just above the horizon, show- 

 ing its light on the fleecy clouds and on the white mist hanging 

 over the meadows. One day in August I found grandis and 

 juncea flying together over a dried-up river-bed in North Wales ; 

 on the adjacent woody heights juncea was alone. Grandis, in 

 fact, prefers the lower grounds. The last I saw of juncea for 

 the season was on August 21st; of grandis on the evening 

 of September 4th, — time 7 o'clock, very dusk, and the city 

 lamps lit. 



On August 14th Ischnura elegans appeared again, fresh and 

 fine, at a pond where it had not occurred since May ; surely a 

 second brood ? 



On August 21st I found Libellula quadrimaculata and Leucor- 



