686 



ARTICULATA 



AMERICAN DRAGON-FLY OR iESHNA. 



It is of a deep steel-blue color, and tlie wings have a large dark patch near the apex. Some of 

 the Dragon-Flies have the abdomen at least six inches long. Among the larger kinds is the 

 Libdlula depressa of Linnjeus, common in Europe, and popularly called Eleanor ; the abdomen 

 is large, short, and flat, and composed of nine rings or segments ; the wings are diaphanous, and 

 the flight is exceedingly light. 



The Dragon-Flies, of various sizes, are numerous in this country, and are commonly called 

 DeviFs Daniinf/-JVeedles, and sometimes Spinners. They are often seen moving with a rapid 

 flight over rivers, ponds, and meadows, alighting for a moment, and then shooting away again. 

 They are beautifully colored, and have a peculiarly light and airy appearance. They are, how- 

 ever, exceedingly voracious, being among insects what hawks and eagles are among birds. But 

 although formidable to the minute creatures of their own class, they are perfectly harndcss to 

 min. Nay, they are in fact very useful to him, as they destroy a vast number of gnats and 



other insects which are troublesome 

 or destructive. If a few drao;on-flies 

 be shut up in a house for a short 

 time they will exterminate the mos- 

 quitos, flies, and other vexatious 

 blood-suckers of the kind, just as a 

 few toads put into a room will rid 

 it of bed-bugs, cockroaches, and the 

 like. 



THE EPHEMERID^. 



These insects are called J)at/- 

 Flies from the shortness of their 

 existence in the perfect state ; they 

 are also called May-Flies. Both 

 larvae and pupae present a consider- 

 able resemblance to the perfect in- 

 MAT-FLiEs. sect ; but the entire period of the 



preparatory stages is passed in the 

 water. During this period the larvae and pupae make themselves little burrows in the sides of 



