DRAGONFLIES IN 1896. 35 



August. It haunts the banks of streams, especially where there 

 is plenty of vegetation. On July 5th I secured a male with its 

 right fore wing wanting in the blue pigment. This is not an 

 uncommon aberration ; sometimes all the wings are similarly 

 deficient, and this brown-winged form was named by Stephens 

 anceps. In Surrey C. splendens seems also to like the banks of 

 streams and canals where the vegetation is luxuriant. I found 

 it last season in large numbers, my first specimen being seen on 

 May 17th, and the last on June '28th, when, however, the insect 

 was probably by no means over. I met with a few stragglers at 

 the Black Pond, where I bad not observed it before. 



Amongst the Agrionidce are to be found twelve British 

 species : — Lestes nympha, Selys, L. sponsa, Hans., Platycnemis 

 pennipes, Pall., Erythromma najas, Hans., Pyrrhosoma minium, 

 Harr., P. tenellum, Vill., Isclniura pumilio, Charp., /. elegans, 

 Lind., Agrion pulchellum, Lind , A. puella, Linn., A. mercuriale, 

 Charp., and A. cyatldgerum, Charp. Of these I took last season 

 all except L. nympha, I. pumilio, and A. mercuriale. 



Three male L. sponsa were netted in the New Forest on 

 Aug. 10th, over a tiny pond from which the water had gone, 

 leaving only weeds and mud. 



Of P. pennipes I took two in the New Forest on July 5th, and 

 a good number near Pyrford, in Surrey, on June 28th. Most of 

 those in Surrey were caught along a ditch about a couple of 

 yards wide, where they flew close to the water, the bluer speci- 

 mens looking like A. puella or A. cyathigerum. Two or three 

 were taken over grass. The colour of the female, which is con- 

 siderably more robust than the male, is yellowish, sometimes 

 with a greenish tinge : the male varies from yellowish white to 

 pale blue, the head being of a blue with a slightly green tinge. 

 The markings are black, and they vary to a much greater extent 

 than does the ground colour. The feathered legs are very 

 distinctive. 



Early in May I bred a few examples of E. najas from nymphs 

 taken from the Basingstoke Canal on April 25th. On May 17th 

 two were taken near Wisley, and on May 23rd and June 20th 

 I took them in plenty over the Basingstoke Canal. Most of the 

 mature insects were flying, often at a fair pace, over the water, 

 and kept out of reach, seeming to be timid of one's approach. 

 They often settled on Potamogeton or some similar floating weed, 

 if not sometimes on the water itself. The immature insects 

 seemed to keep away from the water. On the wing the male 

 somewhat closely resembles a rather bulky I. elegans. 



P. minium began to emerge indoors as early as April 7th, but 

 the first outdoor specimens I saw occurred at the Black Pond on 

 May 2ud. The last specimen noticed was in the New Forest on 

 Aug. 3rd. P. tenellum was coming on the wing at the Black 

 Pond on June 14th, and I took my last specimen at the same 



