298 Mr. K. J. Morton on 
blue; of two examples with the wings moderately tinted 
with brown one gives an impression that it may have been 
blue, the other is greenish; the other two, the oldest of the 
five, have the wings more strongly tinted and the colour 
greenish. Whether we have to do with two different forms 
or merely with a matter of age I do not venture to decide, 
but think there are most probably two forms. 
With regard to the habits of the species, Brewitt-Taylor 
writes: ‘‘'This species is not rare, but is very difficult to catch. 
I have never seen it settled. It is to be seen in the day 
flying rapidly in the palm swamps, but does not remain in 
any one spot. At sundown—about half an hour after sun- 
set—it can best be caught while hawking the little swarms 
of insects. It then often comes quite low down. Often a 
dozen or so can be seen together at a height of about 20 feet 
hawking amongst a group of gnats. This I have seen only 
at dusk.” In a later note he says: “On 24th June [ 
watched a yellow-green female ovipositing at 1.30. She 
settled on a reed or grass lying on the water and pushed her 
abdomen down sometimes quite 14 inches under water. 
[This explains why the females often have muddy bodies. | 
The frogs frequently attempted to catch her, but she was far 
too quick for them. , They approached cautiously towards her 
and snapped at her.’ 
[Re-examination of one of Evans’s Amara specimens 
(22. v.), which is evidently very young, clearly shows the 
beginning of the darker clouding, but it is not possible to say 
what the colour of the abdomen at the base may have been. 
When these large insects are at rest, the greenish form one 
would imagine would-be less conspicuous than the blue. Can 
it be that a less proportion of the latter reach mature age ? | 
Orthetrum sabina, Drury. 
86 S,6 2 2, 7-11-81, v., 1-10. vi., 13-16. vi. (Basra). 
I may take occasion to refer again to this species when 
dealing with Odonata received from Captain Buxton, taken 
by him in N.W. Persia. 
Orthetrum trinacria, Selys. 
28,1 2,5. vii. (Amara). 
Crocothemis erythrea chaldeorum, subsp. n. 
Crocothemis erythrea, Morton, E. M. M., 3rd ser. vol. v. p. 186 (1919). 
53,7 2 $, 2-15. vi. (Basra) (Brewitt-Taylor). 
