THE BANANA RIVER COUNTRY 315 



had not seen since my visit to Guapiles and Guacimo In June. 

 Some of these took a long time to capture, such as species 

 of Gynacantha found only in the dark forest of the warmer 

 parts of the country so far as my experience goes. I noticed 

 an Individual In a certain round, slightly depressed area 

 containing no growing plants but with leaves and sticks 

 on the still damp ground — all of which made me suspect that 

 in wet weather this was a little pool. It was surrounded 

 by a circle of small palms two to four feet high and the 

 whole place was deeply shaded by tall trees. When I first 

 found this spot and saw the Insect, the dragonfly disappeared 

 and I went elsewhere, after mentally noting the place for a 

 visit on my return. A few hours later I came again and saw 

 two species of Gynacantha there. They were large dragon- 

 flies of strong flight but one of their peculiarities was that 

 they usually alighted close to the ground and almost Invari- 

 ably selected the undersides of the midribs of the arched palm 

 leaves. In such positions it was often Impossible to use a 

 net and then I tried to slip up to them, so slowly and quietly 

 that they would not be disturbed, and catch them in my 

 fingers. I succeeded with Gynacantha trifida but not with 

 the larger G. gracilis, although once as the latter flew off it 

 rubbed against my dangerous fingertips. It was gracilis 

 I especially wanted and it was essential not to frighten it, 

 for I knew that if that happened it would fly far away and 

 I would never see it again. So I followed it as it flew from 

 one side to the other of the circle of little palms as I dis- 

 turbed but did not alarm It. At times when my fingers 

 approached very near, its wings began to flutter slightly; 

 if I drew off, the fluttering ceased, if I came nearer the 

 fluttering became flight and I must stalk the prey again. 

 It took fully an hour of these tactics before I finally got Into 

 such a position that I felt justified in making a sweep of the 

 net that would mean capture or complete loss — but capture 



