Tkiacaxtiiac.vxa and Gynacantha 41 



metepisternum brown, greenish above, metepimeron paler; sides of thorax 

 with small distinct brown or black spots; beneath light flesh brown, whitish; 

 interalar spots green. Abdomen brown ; i pale at base with a brown basal 

 spot above on either side and a narrow subapical bluish green transverse 

 band, the extreme apex black ; 2 with a widely interrupted narrow transverse 

 basal green band, a less interrupted oblique green band at the transverse 

 carina, which carina is black, a wider uninterrupted but narrowed, subapical 

 blue band, the extreme apex black, and a narrow longitudinal median green 

 stripe which posteriorly passes into the apical blue; (J. H. Williamson 

 noted on a Palmdale, Florida, male : spots between wings and on basal ab- 

 dominal segments, green) ; auricles above bluish gray, edged black; 3-8 each 

 with a very small basal spot on either side, minute on 7 and 8 ; 3-9 each with 

 a small triangular spot on each side at the transverse carina, these spots 

 basal on 9; 3-8 and 10 narrowly black at apex, 10 with a small basal median 

 spot ; lower lateral margins of 3-9 pale, this pale area interrupted on each 

 segment at the tranverse carina and by a downward projection of the dorsal 

 brown between the transverse carina and the apex, thus dividing the pale 

 lateral area of each segment into three areas or spots, the posterior one of 

 these areas becomes progressively smaller posteriorly and wanting on 6 

 and posterior to that segment. Female. — Similar to male but duller; lower 

 lateral edge of abdomen paler, the posterior one of the three pale areas on 

 each segment present on 3-7, and the sides below of 8-10 largely pale. 



The following less detailed notes were made from slightly teneral males 

 taken at Santa Marta : eyes above and thorax above greenish brown ; narrow 

 obscure short brown thoracic stripes on mid-mesepisternum ; thorax below 

 and behind brown ; wing bases and markings on i and 2 blue. Abdomen 

 clove brown, markings black and light dull yellow. And of an adult male 

 taken at Bolivar T have the following note : thoracic dorsum greenish brown, 

 sides light brown ; abdomen darker brown ; 1 and 2 marked blue, other seg- 

 ments marked black and yellowish. 



6". iicrz'osa seems essentially crepuscular in its flight. Where the species 

 occurs abundantly the numbers on the wing and in sight at once, the 

 mobile active flight, and the rapidly coming darkness of the tropical night 

 combine to form a scene to fire the imagination. The collector has spent 

 the day in the forest closely surrounding the little village of thatched huts 

 which he knows as ''home." and among the hundreds of dragonflies flying 

 about woodland pools and streams no nervosa have been seen. At sundown, 

 muddy, wet and tired he t-eturns home. Suddenly a large brown dragonfly 

 goes with undulating flight down the village path before him. In a bit of 

 near-by garden another with lower more direct flight appears. Then 

 three or four are seen circling about a thatched hut and at once the garden 

 and path are alive with interweaving forms and the flight is on. They come 

 from everywhere, the air is filled with them, some fly erratically, others 

 patrol regular beats, apparent spots of greater density lure the collector 

 from one point to another. As suddenly as they appeared, only a few' are 

 seen, and then they are gone, and the disappointed collector with possibly 

 only two or three specimens in his bottle, realizes that the twenty to thirty 



