84 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



yet she sends us many of her " flying gems" as precursors 

 of her abundant fertility, when the sun shall have tempered 

 still more the bleak winds of March. The beautiful family 

 of Dragon Flies, Libellulidce, is noted for the extreme 

 elegance of the species composing it. Kirby speaks of their 

 dress as silky, brilliant, and trimmed with the finest lace ; 

 and Mouffet says, " they set forth Nature's elegancy beyond 

 the expression of art/' The French call them Demoiselles : 

 our less elegant names of Dragon Fly, Horse-stinger, etc., 

 are quite misapplied, as they are perfectly harmless. They 

 are generally seen skimming over standing water, seizing 

 other insects as food ; sometimes even Butterflies become 

 victims of these beautiful destroyers. The eggs are laid by 

 the female in the form of a bunch of grapes, and are soon 

 hatched into short, thick larvae, with six scaly legs ; on 

 becoming pupae, they are equally active. In their aquatic 

 state these insects have a curious apparatus for catching 

 their prey, which is thus amusingly described in Kirby and 

 Spence's admirable work : " One of the most remarkable 

 instruments, in which the art and skill of Divine mechanism 

 are singularly conspicuous, may be seen in the under-lip of 

 the Dragon Fly. Conceive your under-lip to be horny 

 instead of fleshy, and to be elongated, so as to wrap over 



