230 ANIMAL LIFE 



race. Its large size and powerful wings give it the 

 command of a wide range of country, and the capacity to 

 migrate across narrow seas. Its colouring is vivid and 

 metallic. The mobility of its head and the huge eyes 

 that almost enclose the head enable the dragon-fly to 

 take note of objects on all sides, and to seize its prey 

 from any position. The six legs enclose the prey. 

 The jaws rapidly dismember a stricken fly, the juices 

 of which are sucked through the minute mouth. The 

 dragon-fly is one of the few old groups of animals that 

 are conspicuous. Its ancestry reaches back to remote 

 ages, and there is reason to believe that the swamps 

 of the coal-measures were haunted by raptorial dragon- 

 flies similar to those that to-day quarter the river- 

 courses in most parts of the world. This long descent 

 is evinced by its vitality, for the head severed from the 

 tail will continue to eat as heartily as before. 



The prelude to this sunlit active life is passed 

 quietly and inconspicuously under water. The oval 

 eggs are dropped casually into a pond or marsh, or 

 even a water-holding leaf, and give rise in the course of 

 weeks to a grotesque creature about a tenth of an inch 

 long. It is just visible to the eye as a brown wingless 

 animal. The head is flat and furnished with minute 

 eyes. The six legs are used for slowly exploring the 

 muddy bottom, and the tail has the curious faculty of 

 inhaling and expelling draughts of water for the double 

 purpose of supplying oxygen to the tissues and of 

 making sudden springing jumps. 



Almost the first act of this ' nymph ' is to cast its 



