88 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



1 



Oporabia autumnata. — All the specimens of 0. autwimata that I 

 have taken at Eannoch were obtained ia woods, chiefly birch, and the 

 species appeared to be confined to such places. I did not observe it on 

 the moors, even on portions adjoining the woods. If disturbed in the 

 woods and carried by the wind on to the moorland, they quickly make 

 their Wcxy back to the shelter of the trees. In this habit they seem to 

 differ ixom. filiyrammaria. — William M. Christy. 



Notes on the Nymph of -iEsohna cyanea. — From a pond about 

 thirty yards long by four yards wide were taken, last year, seventy-four 

 nymphs of .■Eschna cyanea, of which sixty-oue managed successfully 

 their final change, and were set free. Of this number thirty-one were 

 females and thirty males. Quite forty or fifty more nymphs emerged 

 from this same pond, as the empty skins clingiug to the rushes fringing 

 the pond remained to testify. The year before last one hundred and 

 fourteen nymphs were taken from the same small pond, all of the 

 same species. Of the sixty-one nymphs observed last year, a very 

 large proportion changed by night, viz. fifty- four, as against seven that 

 changed during the day. Of those observed in 1898, the complete 

 record has unfortunately been lost ; but of thirty-five emergences, 

 twenty-five were by night and ten by day. The earliest emergence 

 last year was that of three females on June 25th ; in 1898 the earliest 

 emergence was July 9th. Of the sixty-one insects set free last year 

 from the firsc emergence on June 25th to the last on July 28th, every 

 one went right away, and not one was seen near the pond or garden 

 for more than a month. In the autumn, however, the usual number, 

 about five or six perhaps, appeared, but at no time did more than one 

 pair frequent the pond at the same time. On August 6tli a nymph 

 of Msckna cyanea was found, about three-fourths of an inch long, 

 together with its cast skin, but whether this nymph came from an egg 

 laid by one of the earlier emergences in June could not be determined. 

 This particular pond at South Leigh, Oxfordshire, appears to be 

 entirely monopolised by JEschnn cyanea and Agrion puella. The latter, 

 owing probably to their invisibility on the weed and their habit of 

 lying very still, do not seem to be molested by M. cyanea. I shall be 

 glad to exchange M. cyanea for any other nymphs at any time from 

 now to July. The length of the nymphs now (Jan. 25th) varies from 

 half an inch to an inch and a quarter. — Arthur East ; iSouth Leigh 

 Vicarage, Witney, Oxon. 



iEsGHNA aRANDis ON THE WiNG AT DusK. — On the evenlngs of 

 July 12th, 13th, and 15th, from about half-past eight until almost 

 dark, I was much interested tn watching a specimen of ASschna 

 grandis busily hawking round several apple trees in my garden and in 

 a neighbour's adjoining. It was evidently in quest of Carpocapsa 

 pomo7iella, Linn., which was unusually abundant at the time, as I saw 

 it catch them several times. At Reading, several years ago, whilst 

 netting Lepidoptera at dusk, I unexpectedly caught a male of the same 

 species of dragonfly, which in the uncertain light I had mistaken for 

 a large moth. — A. H. Hamm ; 62, St. Mary's Eoad, Oxford. 



[jEschiia grandis has often been noticed hunting long after the 

 usual time for dragonflies to retire. It appears also that M. jimcea 

 and Anax imperator have an inclination in the same direction. It 



