CHAPTER IX. 



DRAGON-FLY STORMS. 



ONE of the most curious things I have encountered 

 in my observations on animal life relates to a habit 

 of the larger species of dragon-flies inhabiting the 

 Pampas and Patagonia. Dragon-flies are abun- 

 dant throughout the country wherever there is 

 water. There are several species, all more or less 

 brilliantly coloured. The kinds that excited my won- 

 der, from their habits, are twice as large as the com- 

 mon widely distributed insects, being three inches 

 to four inches in length, and as a rule they are sober- 

 coloured, although there is one species the largest 

 among them entirely of a brilliant scarlet. This 

 kind is, however, exceedingly rare. All the different 

 kinds (of the large dragon-flies) when travelling 

 associate together, and occasionally, in a flight 

 composed of countless thousands, one of these 

 brilliant-hued individuals will catch the eye, appear- 

 ing as conspicuous among the others as a poppy or 

 scarlet geranium growing alone in an otherwise 

 flowerless field. The most common species and 

 in some cases the entire flight seems to be composed 

 of this kind only is the ^Eschna bonariensis Raml, 

 the prevailing colour of which is pale blue. But 

 the really wonderful thing about them all alike is, 



