i8qi-9 2 -] Dragon-Flies : tlicir Life-History. 13 



with a prodigious cloud of dragon-flies. About a hundred men, most of 

 them on horseback, were congregated on the course at the time, and the 

 insects, instead of rushing by in their usual way, settled on the people in 

 such quantities that men and horses were quickly covered with clingino- 

 masses of them. My informant said — and this agrees with my own obser- 

 vation — that he was greatly impressed by the appearance of terror shown 

 by the insects : they clung to him as if for clear life, so that he had the 

 greatest difficulty in ridding himself of them. 



There is a curious legeud regarding this insect which clings 

 to the Japanese emperor, Yuriyaku Tenno, who flourished in 

 457 A.D. He was making an imperial progress to the moor 

 of Akizu for the purpose of hunting. As he sat down to 

 rest, a horse-fly bit his august arm ; but immediately a dragon- 

 fly came and seized the horse-fly and flew away. Thereupon 

 he composed an august song as follows : — 



Who is it tells in the great presence that game is lying on the peak of 

 Womurs at Mi-Yeshinu 1 Our great Lord who tranquilly carries on the 

 government, being seated on the throne to await the game, a horse-fly 

 alights on and stings the fleshy part of his arm, fully clad in a sleeve of 

 white stuff, and a dragon-fly quickly eats up the horse-fly. That it might 

 properly bear its name, the land of Yamato was called the Island of the 

 Dragon-fly. — ' Japan,' by David Murray. 



The latest alteration iD classification of these neuropterous 

 insects has been made by Fabricino, one of the great entomolo- 

 gists of the eighteenth century, who raised the dragon-flies 

 from the position of the genus Libellula of Linnaeus to the 

 importance of a distinct order named by him Odonata. The 

 Odonata are divided into two sections — Libellulina and Agrio- 

 nina — the former being again divided into two tribes; the 

 whole order being subdivided into seven families and forty-five 

 species (as shown in the table on p. 14). 



The distribution of the dragon-flies is world-wide, excepting, 

 of course, in the polar regions ; but they are especially insects 

 of the torrid zone. About 1700 species are said to be now 

 known, relegated to the several sub - families as follows: 

 Agrionina, 490 species; Calopterygina, 170; Gomphina, 210; 

 Aeschnina, 150; Cordulina, 100; Libellulina, 580. In 

 Europe, only 100 species have been observed, and 45 of 

 these occur in Britain. In Australia they are very numer- 

 ous — the reverse being the case in New Zealand, where only 

 8 species are known. 



