98 PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE ODONATA. 
nesota River at Mankato. Lacerata could be identified with certainty 
but the other and lighter colored species could not be recorded without 
capture. A brief quotation from the writer’s note book for June 28 
will suggest something of the habits of these swift and wary Libel- 
lulids: ‘The hours from 9-11 were spent at the sand-bars on the river. 
In the sun the temperature was excessive, probably 100° or over, and 
the sands seemed alive with tiger-beetles and Hymenoptera. About 
several small ponds left by the falling river sailed dozens of Libellulas 
and among them a lesser number of Trameas of at least two species, 
lacerata and another of lighter color. Plathemis lydia and Libellula 
unfailingly darted after every Tramea that came near, pestering it 
much as kingbirds will a hawk. I attempted to take advantage of the 
moments when they were hard pressed but my efforts resulted in noth- 
ing but danger of sun-stroke. The ponds are very similar to those 
where Pantala and Tramea were so common at Cherokee, Iowa.” 
In all probability these species are limited to the Austral and 
southern parts of the Transition Zones. 
Genus Libellula Linneé. 
L. luctuosa Burm, Quite common at Lake Madison, August 4-11, 
1914, several well colored males and a teneral female being taken. 
Many more were seen about the docks and boat landings. Along our 
eastern border Wilson found this species, both males and females, 
common and usually well matured by July 10-16, 1907. 
L. exusta Say. A female was sent in from Alden, Freeborn 
County, about June 12, 1914, and a male is recorded from Mankato, 
June 21, 1914. Lake Amelia, Minneapolis, July 6-7, 1907, one male. 
At Beaver Lake, St. Paul, on July 10, Mr. Wilson writes: “Abundant 
everywhere, most common with quadrimaculata in the undergrowth 
close to the shore. When it alights it squats like a Gomphus on the 
rocks, stumps, or even on the ground. It is gregarious, as many as 
fifteen or twenty alighting on the same spot; it is also inquisitive and 
many were caught that actually alighted inside the net as it was being 
carried. The males are predominant and all are pruinose thus early.” 
L. quadrimaculata Linné. Between the 10th and 30th of June, 
1914, Miss Holgersen collected 10 males and 5 females in good color at 
Alden. At Mankato a pair was taken on June 13, 1913. Wilson col- 
lected numbers of these insects at St. Paul, Hastings and Stillwater, 
July 8-16, 1907. At the latter place they were extremely plentiful: 
“Found by hundreds in the old lumber yard on the bank of the St. 
Croix; every stick, stub and bush alive with them. They were very 
