THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XXX.] NOVEMBEE, 1897. [No. 414. 



DKAGONFLIES IN 1897. 



By W. J. Lucas, B.A. 



(Plate I.) 



While lepidopterists have been complaining of the useless- 

 ness of sugaring and larvae -hunting, and of the paucity of 

 insects generally, the dragonfly collector has had his hands full, 

 though perhaps the scarcer species have not crossed his path 

 so frequently as he would wish. Owing, however, to the cold 

 weather in the latter part of the spring, the season for the perfect 

 insects was somewhat late in commencing, and my first capture 

 of Lihellula quadrimaculata did not take place till May 9th, 

 whereas in 1894 I secured a specimen as early as April 25th ; 

 and though Pyrrhosoma mmimn was taken on May 2nd at the 

 Black Pond, near Esher, it did not become general there till 

 after the middle of the month. 



During the season I have been able to sketch and describe 

 the eggs of about a quarter of the British species of Dragonflies, 

 and [although perhaps the material thus obtained is scarcely 

 sufficient to allow one to make many general statements, yet the 

 following remarks will probably need but little subsequent modi- 

 fication. In colour the eggs are very pale yellowish white, 

 which in some cases turns to reddish brown after they have been 

 for a time in the water. They are semitransparent, and closely 

 resemble ovules or very young seeds of a plant, their contents 

 being granular, as if protoplasmic, and perhaps containing 

 globules of an oily nature. They all, or nearly all, still further 

 resemble ovules in possessing a little pedicel at one end. In 

 shape there is some variation. The Libelluline, Corduliine pro- 

 bably, and Corduligasterine families have eggs whose section is 

 elliptical, oval, or pear-shaped, the two axes not differing greatly 



BNTOM. NOV. 1897. 2 A 



