ii2 Wild Life in Wales 



sometimes met with far out upon the hills, whither perhaps 

 their strength of wing had carried them from lower latitudes, 

 but where little colonies of the larvae are met with on un- 

 expected nettle clumps, that often survive as almost the only 

 mark of the site of a former human habitation. 



Dragon-flies are numerous at some of the pools on the 

 mountains in summer, as well as on many of the moorland 

 bogs : one of the commonest being the pretty, brown-hued, 

 Libellula quadri-maculata^ which in June I watched con- 

 summating its marriages in the air, the sexes chasing one 

 another in rapid flight over the bog holes. The female 

 also lays her eggs upon the wing, gliding slowly over the 

 surface of the pool, and at each momentary pause dropping 

 a single egg into the water. The full, black markings, and 

 rich brown shading on the wings of the specimens breeding 

 here, is in marked contrast to the poor colouring displayed 

 by some of those I have taken upon the east coast of 

 England, where, apparently, they sometimes arrive in 

 migratory bands. Indeed, I do not think that I have any- 

 where seen the deep chestnut hue of those peat-hole- 

 frequenting insects equalled. 



