370 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



VOL. 37. 



viduals seek insect food at a considerable elevation and hence escape 

 observation. Mr. R. A. Muttkowski observed, at Milwaukee, sev- 

 eral individuals of a species which he believed was not illinoiensis 

 resting in close proximity to each other on a tree branch at a con- 

 siderable elevation. 



The height of the season for the species of Macromia seems to 

 lie between the spring and autumn dragonfly seasons, when any 

 possible competition with members of the same order would be at 

 a minimum. Along the Wabash River during a hot day in early 

 August odonate life seems almost suspended. It is on such a day 

 that the collector may hope to find the largest number of individuals 

 of this genus. 



Macromias are reported to be eaten by birds. 1 have never 

 observed examples of this myself. Once a pair in copulation 

 (apparently imcijica) was repeatedly attacked by a kingbird, which 



Fig. 1.— Wings of male Azuma eleg.^NvS, kkom Miyazaki, Japan. 



drove the dragonflies back and forth across the Wabash River 

 several times, but the dragonflies eventually came to rest about 30 

 feet from the ground, clinging to the under side of an oak limb, and 

 escaped without any damage. It is probable that any destruction 

 by birds occurs during the teneral condition of the dragonflies. It 

 is at this period, and onl}^ then, so far as I have observed, that king- 

 birds attempt to capture Anax Junius. I have seen a yellow-billed 

 cuckoo make repeated and unsuccessfid attacks on an adult Epi- 

 stschna heros. On the other hand, I once saw a catbird catch an adult 

 Gomphus, but the bird pounced on the dragonfl}^ just as it alighted 

 on a clay bank, and did not take* it on the wing. 



No specimens of Macromia have been seen by me which were 

 infested with the red mite which occurs so commonly on many 

 dragonflies. In a large number of specimens examined, only two 

 show abnormal wings which have resulted from apparent mechanical 



