ON A T)RA(H)N FLV. 127 



you mav sight them, which yon may soon do should the morning he a 

 hot one, you select those closest to the edge of the land or just over it, 

 and quietly bring round with your left hand the glass shade somewhat 

 above them, and gently lower it over them, then slipping the piece 

 of cork under it as a base, aud having the scissors handy to cut any 

 stems in the glass which you leave there for tiiem to cling to. The 

 open mesh of the net puzzles the fish, and you will find that the 

 transparency of the glass, in a similar way, puzzles the insect, so 

 that if it be carefully managed they will not be disturbed, and you 

 have them secured in a crystal palace. 



This kind of glass shade, perforated with a hole through the knob 

 at the top to let the air escape, can sometimes be used for securing 

 water specimens by lowering it over them into the water. By 

 standing your cork base with your glass shade upon it in the centre 

 of a handkerchief, and tying the four corners over the top, you have a 

 capital mode of sheepishly carrying vour capture home. 



I assume, as before, that your aquarium is well prepared ; but the 

 vegetation should be such that there may be several stems or floating 

 leaves on the surface. The more light and sun they get the better ; 

 so if you can work, as I was able to do, at a tank in a conservatoi-y 

 (Hawkesford's) it is a great help. Before removing the glass shade 

 and setting the cork afloat with your capture upon it, you need 

 some kind of cover inverted over the aquarium. If you have the Agrion 

 this may be a frame cover of leno lace, but if you have caught the 

 larger kind they will gnaw through this, so it is best to invert another 

 glass aquarium over them, turning in with them a good supply of flies, 

 gnats, or spiders, which they will seize as they come across them, if 

 they have not been hurt in transshipment. The full feeding is very 

 necessary both in the larval and imago state. 



As it is well, however, to keep as near to natural conditions as 

 possible, your best plan, I think, is this : Having left them on the pond 

 side for an hour or two, you raise the glass shade and set the captives 

 free. If deftly done it is likely the gentleman will take part in assisting 

 his lady in the duty of egg depositing, which begins about mid-day and 

 goes on throughout the afternoon. Suspending her by his claspers 

 round her neck, he sails away and brings her poised a few inches over 

 the water, now and again lowering her with a sweeping stroke or dash 

 down to the surface, she at the same moment releasing an egg at each 

 dip. You may see this done to the number of twenty times or more 

 by any one pair. There is an easy dancing action in this, which leads 

 one to think that it is a great help to her in her efforts. 



Should, however, the lady be left to herself, she no less faithfully 

 fulfils her duty to the future offspring she will never see ; but it is 

 manifestly a work of greater labour alone. She then alights on the 

 stems or leaves of plants near the surface, and you may see her bend 

 her long body into a curve until the ovipositor touches the plant, 

 and the eggs are laid there, one at a time, and may be found upon it. 

 As the leaf decavs it carries them to the bottom. 



