178 THE AESHNA GRANDIS. 



The Julia, or Libellula grandis (Linn.), has been separ- 

 ated from the Libellulse by the great entomologists, such as 

 Fabricius and Latreille, and included in the genus Aeshna 

 (Phcebus, what a name !), preserving the descriptive adjective 

 grandis. What are the reasons put forward to justify this 

 separation? Principally, the form of the abdomen, and the 

 position of those little smooth and simple eyes, like tiny pearls 

 or pearlets, which we call ocelli. In the Libellulae, properly so 

 called, the ocelli, three in number, are situated on either side 

 and on the exterior margin of a kind of semi-triangular vesicle, 

 and the abdomen is slightly depressed, and not unlike a club ; 

 while in the Aeshna the ocelli are placed on a simple keel- 

 shaped transversal embossment, and the abdomen is narrow, 

 elongated, and almost cylindrical. 



The Aeshna grandis (or the " Julia ") is one of the largest 

 of the British species. Its head is large, and its eyes are of 

 a brown colour shading into blue ; the yellow thorax has two 

 bright yellow bands or stripes obliquely painted on each side. 

 The abdomen is of a reddish or even rusty brown; gene- 

 rally spotted with white and yellow at the top and bottom of 

 each wing. This species haunts the vicinity of streams and 

 " silent pools." 



We come, in due order, to the Aeshna fortipata, or " Caro- 

 lina," with its dirty yellow head, and its greenish-yellow thorax, 

 the latter marked on each side with three oblique lines of 



