CHAPTER VI 



DRAGONFLIES AND TWO-WINGED 

 FLIES 



IF the Cicindelidae, according to Linnaeus, 

 may be called the tigers of the insect 

 tribes, the dragonflies may be termed 

 the hawks. They are types of predaceous 

 creatures. They have long, slender bodies, 

 contrived to present the least resistance to 

 the air ; wide-spread, tapering wings, adapted 

 for flight, forward, backward, or sideways at 

 pleasure ; and large eyes, set prominently in 

 the head, so as to command a wide prospect 

 in every direction. Their fierce rush through 

 the air forebodes death to all smaller insects 

 which come in their way. One is appalled to 

 think what the position of man himself would 

 have been, had there existed animals of large 

 size, with the powers of dragonflies in pro- 

 portion. Under these conditions the human 



