SECRETARY'S REPORT. 151 



Mack, with rows of long l)lack hairs beneath ; wings hyaline 

 with a faint yellowish tinge, fuscous at the tips. Several other 

 species of this beautiful genus are found in this State, some of 

 which have the whole wing of a light smoky color, and others 

 almost entirely hyaline. They lly more slowly than the larger 

 dragonfiies, and frequent the banks of running brooks. 

 Another genus, Ilelarina of IJagcn, with narrower wings, the 

 bases of which in the male are sanguineous or reddish is 

 represented here by one described species only : the HeUcrUia 

 americdna of Fabricius, or basdlis of Say, who gave it the latter 

 and more appropriate name on account of the basal red marking, 

 not being aware that it had already received the name of ameri- 

 cdna from Fabricius. The male and female of the American 

 darning-needle vary considerably, the former having a gen- 

 eral fuscous coppery tint, with three yellow stripes on the 

 sides of the thorax and the base of all the wings bright blood- 

 red, while the female is of a brassy green color above, with four 

 yellow stripes on the thorax and the base of the wings some- 

 what yellowish, the remainder of the wing in both sexes is 

 hyaline faintly tinged with yellow, especially on the outer 

 margin, and tlie pterostigma is very small, oblong and yellow, 

 the black ncrvures or veins which immediately surround it, 

 appearing thicker and more distinct than the others ; the feet 

 are whitish beneath, and black above. It is over one and a half 

 inches in length, expanding from two and a quarter inches to 

 more than two and a half. The species belonging to the typical 

 genus Agrion^ of Fabricius, are very numerous about ponds 

 and rivers, fluttering over the surface in pursuit of their prey, 

 or sporting with their mates whose bodies they seize with their 

 long slender feet, without either's checking their flight, and a 

 pair are often seen attached in this manner gliding in their 

 sinuous fliglit, a few inches above the surface of the water. The 

 bodies of many are banded and marked with a pearly blue, 

 others partake of the coppery and brassy 

 lustre of the last named species, and 

 others still are of a yellow or reddish tint. 

 Airrion saucium of Burmeister, or the 

 wounded darning-needle, (figure 25,) is 

 of a blood red color upon the thorax and 

 sides of the abdomen; head blackish, Fig. 25. 



