THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1895. 



189 



The beautiful harlequiu or bead 

 snakes {Blapidce) are provided with two 

 or .more nearly permanently erect, 

 grooved fangs in the upper jaw. These 

 are generally small, not greatly curved 

 and project only slightly below the 

 nasal membrane. The poison glands 

 of our Southern species of Elaps are 

 small when compared with the above- 

 mentioned serpents. They are gener- 

 ally considered harmless snakes. 



DRAGON FLIES. 

 "Dragon flies," "mosquito hawks," 

 "devil darning-needles" — these are 

 some of the curious names for certain 

 well-known neuropterous insects of the 

 family LibeUulidce. They are common- 

 ly seen skimming in swift flight over 

 the surfaces of ponds and other bodies 

 of still water. The head and thorax 

 are greatly enlarged — the eyes entirely 

 covering the sides of the former — and 



Larv^ of Dragon Fly. 



the hind body is very long and slender, 

 terminating in the male with a pair of 

 clasps, for seizing the female. The 

 two pairs of wings are nearly equal in 

 size, transparent, and finely netted, 

 and in many species clouded with broad 

 bands of brown, blue, or crimson. The 

 flies attach their eggs to the submerged 

 leaves of aquatic plants, or drop them 

 carelessly upon the surface of the water. 

 The larvae are aquatic, living at the 

 bottom of the pool or stream they 

 inhabit, and breathing by means of 

 tracheoe, situated in the tail. They are 

 further characterized by what is known 

 as a " mask," which is an elbowed ex- 

 tension of the labium, or under lip, and 



is armed at the extremity with two 

 sharp hooks for seizing and holding the 

 prey. When not in use, this apparatus 

 is folded up over the lower part of the 

 face, but, to grasp a victim, may be sud- 

 denly thrust forward. 



These dragon fly larvte feed upon 

 young mosquitoes or "wrigglers," and 

 other aquatic insects, particularly the 

 young of May flies {Epliemeridce). 

 They are active and predacious, in the 

 pupa as well as in the larva and perfect 

 states. When about to change into a 

 fly, the pupa leaves the water and 

 crawls upon some plant or other object 

 above the surface of the water. After 

 clinging there a short time a rent ap- 

 pears on the top of the thorax, through 

 which the fly emerges. 



AMERICAN LOTUS. 



( NelumMiini luteum. ) 



The Lotus is America's greatest floral 

 giant, even surpassing its terrestrial 

 cousin, the stately magnolia, in 

 size of flower, delicacy of coloring 

 and profusion of bloom. It was 

 a favorite plant with the aborig- 

 ines, and was said by them to be the 

 oldest child of the great "Father of 

 Waters." The seeds were used exten- 

 sively for beads, and were used as an 

 article of food under the name "yonker 

 pins." It was carried northward to Indi- 

 ana and Illinois, and even as far as New 

 York and Massachusetts. Great thickets 

 of them were in cultivation on the middle 

 Avaters of the Tennessee and Cumber- 

 land rivers at the time of the settle- 

 ment by the whites. The oldest citi- 

 zens now living in those sections can 

 remember when the Indians would 

 come and gather all the seeds they 

 could carry away ; and some think the 

 roots were also used for food by some 

 tribes. The Indian's arrow is modeled 

 almost exactly after the long flower 

 spikes, while his war club is a crude 

 imitation of the large torus ; so that 

 while the Lotus of the sacred Nile had 

 its worshipers, and the Lotus of the sa- 

 cred Ganges its votaries and pupils, the 

 lotus of the sacred Mississippi had, at 

 least, its admirers. G. B. M. 



