Dragonflies and their Prey. 497 



far more numerous than the females, it is worthy of remaik 

 tiiat, out of the twenty-two individufils taken with prey in 

 Tropical Africa by Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter, Mr.S. A. Neavc, 

 and Dr. Jas. J. Simpson, only six belong to the numerically 

 superior sex. Indeed, in the case of one or two of the less 

 common species, tlie present females are the first representa- 

 tives of their sex wiiich have been yet received either by the 

 Imperial Bureau or by the Brilisii Museum. 



It seems to be tiie fact that Dragonflies usually disable 

 their victims by crushing or biting off tiie head, and this 

 mode of athick is very well illustrated by F. Smith's speci- 

 mens of zEschna cyanea and Apis mellifera (No. 21). They 

 may also adopt an additional safeguard against escape by 

 cutting ofl'the wings of an insect which is particularly active 

 or restless, and this removal of the wings has been the 

 subject of actual observation. It is not quite clear, however, 

 whether ihey habitually reject the wings or whether they 

 sometimes make use of them as articles of food. From the 

 following Tables we may see that detached wings of 

 Mycalesis and Danaida butterflies have been found in the 

 clutches of Dragonflies (Nos. 18 and 25). It has been 

 suggested to me tiiat what may actually happen in such cases 

 13 this— that the Dragonfly seizes its prey by one Aving alone, 

 and that the prey subsequently escapes from such an iTisecure 

 hold, leaving behind it a wing or portion of a wing. But I 

 am inclined to think that wings are sometimes actually con- 

 sumed, as well as the abdomen, and this view finds some 

 support from the position in the Dragonfly's jaws of the 

 butterfly fragment referred to in case No. 25. This fVao-I 

 mcnt, which is still in situ, consists of a very small but 

 perfectly recognizable portion of the right fure wing of 

 Danaida chrysippus. One of its edges represents the outer 

 margin of the wing, but it is not this edge which is bcino- 

 grasped by the Dragonfly. Upon the assumption that the 

 Dragonfly had torn this piece out of the butterfly's wing in 

 an unsuccessful attempt at capture, we should have expected 

 to find the Dragonfly holding it by the natural margin. As 

 It is, it seems fairly safe to conclude that the Orlhetruni 

 was taken in the act of making a meal of!" the wing of the 

 Danaida. 



The habits of the two suborders into which Dragonflies 

 are divided are widely different in character. The larger and 

 stronger species forming the bulk of the Anisoptera are 

 built for vigorous and sustained flight, and they may be seen 

 hawking to and fro in the summer sunshine, much as 

 swallows do. The feebler Zygoptera, on the other hand, 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 8. Vol. xiii. 'M 



