DRAGON-FLIES 



(Order Odonata.) 



Excepting the butterflies, there are few more attractive and 

 graceful insects than the " dragon-flies," as the members of this 

 order are generally termed. They are insects which have always 

 attracted attention, and which are known by a variety of 

 vernacular names, of which dragon-fly is the commonest English 



Fig 243. A dragon-fly : Plathemis lydia. 



term. They are known in some parts of the country as " devil's 

 darning needles;" elsewhere as "snake feeders" or "snake 

 doctors; " in Scotland as "flying adders," and in some parts of 

 England as " horse stingers." Although the insects are perfectly 

 harmless, these names well indicate the existence of numerous 

 popular superstitions. Some believe that they will sew up the 

 ears of bad boys ; others that they sting horses ; still others that 

 they act as feeders and physicians to snakes, especially to water 

 snakes. 



The Odonata are slender insects with a very large head which 

 moves most easily upon its slender neck, even rotating to a 



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