336 BIONOMICS, ETC. [CH. 



for food. Neither this nor the locust is ever likely to figure in 

 the white man's menu. 



The Dragonfly has unconsciously rendered one very great 

 service to mankind, by providing in itself the natural model for 

 the modern aeroplane. As long ago as 1883, Amans[2] suggested 

 that the Dragonfly would serve as a suitable model for a flying 

 machine, to be propelled by electricity. The idea took root in 

 the fertile minds of his countrymen, and France has ever since 

 led the way in this new branch of science. One of the first French 

 monoplanes to be manufactured on a large scale was called the 

 "Demoiselle," thus commemorating Amans' original idea. Later 

 models, if anything, approach the natural model even more com- 

 pletely than the 1 earlier ones. A study of the different effects 

 on flight of angulated and rounded hind- wings, as well as of the 

 arrangements of braces and cross-pieces suggested by various 

 parts of the Dragonfly's wing, might well lead to further improve- 

 ments in our models, and might even suggest a solution for 

 "hovering" on simpler lines than anything yet attained. 



FOLK-LORE. 



I have been able to gather very little on this interesting topic. 

 In North Queensland there is a very remarkable Dragonfly, 

 Podopteryx roseonotata (Plate IV, fig. 1) of a rich black and pink 

 colour, which sits about with outspread wings in the dense tropical 

 jungle. The aboriginals know this Dragonfly well, and call it 

 ' ' Wongera- wongera . ' ' They seem to regard it with some reverence, 

 but I have not definitely ascertained that it figures in their system 

 of totemism. 



Folk-lore has gathered around the Dragonfly in Japan, where 

 the people all know these lovely insects and are proud of them. 

 It is said that this love of the Japanese for their Dragonfly fauna 

 arose from the remark made by an Emperor who ascended Fuji- 

 yama. Viewing his kingdom spread out before him, with its widely 

 indented coast-line, he is said to have compared it with a gigantic 

 Dragonfly with outspread wings. The remark was, of course, 

 taken up by the courtiers, and the phrase "The Land of the 

 Dragonfly" passed into current use. Representations of Dragon- 

 flies in art, and allusions to them in literature, are, I am told, 

 very numerous in Japan. 



