3o8 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



the ants entered the soil and without much time and digging 

 it was impossible to ascertain whether a raid by one ant 

 community on another was in progress or not. These 

 proved to be Ecit07i prcsdator, a well-known "army" or 

 "foraging" ant. 



As I left the track and went on through the bananas to- 

 wards the woodland, a number of Syntomid moths {Dinia 

 eagrus) with clear wings and dark brown body fringed with 

 bright red each side of the abdomen, were flying through 

 the underbrush in a manner suggestive of wasps. 



A number of nuts and seeds were floating in the woodland 

 stretch of Agua Buena Creek. In these the dragonfly Neo- 

 neura amelia was laying eggs, the male and female flying 

 together, the former holding the latter's prothorax by the 

 appendages at the tip of his abdomen. On alighting on the 

 nut, the rather dull-colored female bent her abdomen to 

 insert the eggs into the nut's substance and owing to her 

 colors did not at once attract the observer, but the male, 

 standing rigidly upright with no support other than that 

 given by his grasp of the female, was conspicuous from his 

 red head, thorax and first few abdominal segments. At 

 one time six to eight pairs of this species were ovipositing 

 side by side. 



A chrysopid or hemeroblld larva came from somewhere 

 on to my net. He bore a silken case attached to which were 

 remains of various insects whose juices he had sucked to 

 his own bodily advantage. The case serves as a protective 

 covering, presumably, but one might Imagine that the at- 

 tached insect remains might be a disadvantage to the chry- 

 sopid, for, as the latter moved about, an insectivorous enemy 

 might mistake the movements of the case as due to the 

 attached insects and, snapping at them, kill the chrysopid 

 within. 



There were more insects visible this day than on my pre- 



