152 A NATURE WOOING. 



When mature they reach a length of nearly three 

 inches and are correspondingly robust. They are 

 then of a yellow or orange color, barred and spotted 

 with black. The outer wings cover little more than 

 half the abdomen and are quite showy, being yellow- 

 ish spotted with black above, while the sides are rose 

 pink. They become full grown in May. 



On the way home I observed a dragonfly, Pachy- 

 diplax longipennis Burm., fluttering on the ground. 

 Investigation showed that a robber fly, Proctacanthus 

 philadelpliicus Macq., had seized it just back of the 

 head and was holding on with a death-like grip, its 

 beak or tongue being deeply imbedded in the front 

 of the thorax of the dragonfly. The captor was less 

 than one-fourth the size of its victim, and was prob- 

 ably sucking the latter's blood on the spot, as it was 

 plainly too large to be carried away. 



Where the railway runs between two marshes I 

 found between its rails on my way homeward several 

 dead specimens of Bauer's box turtle, Kinosternon 

 baurii Garm. They had evidently attempted to cross 

 the railway from one marsh to another and had got- 

 ten between the rails, but could not get over them. 

 They did not appear to have been injured by the 

 trains, and had probably died from lack of water. 



This is the most northern point from which this 

 turtle has been recorded. It differs from K. penn- 

 sylvanicum Grmelin, also found here and ranging 

 north to northwestern Indiana, by the greater develop- 



