44 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



in the summer time, greatly frightening the children, and even 

 (a rryiug dismay among the grown people. The posterior part of 

 its body is of a brilliant green color, elegantly marked with blue 

 bands and spots, while its great eyes are truly objects of wonder- 

 ful beauty. Then there are our pretty little species that are ever 

 to be seen in spring and summer, flitting among the plants that 

 grow in swampy places and sluggish streams. One of these is 

 especially striking the species with the slender, emerald-colored 

 body, and the ample wings of jetty black; while another is of a 

 gay, bright blue, with wings like gauze. Another, and one that 

 has always been a favorite with the writer, is the species de- 

 scribed by Count De Geer as Libellula, trimaculata, it having a 

 chalky white body, transparent wings, marked in the male by each 

 having a dark patch near the body, and a more extensive area of 

 the same, covering the outer part all to the tip. Three such 

 deeply clouded patches ornament any one of the four wings in 

 the female of this insect. A figure of this species is presented 

 herewith (Fig. 3). 



Among the high pine lands, in the month of June, we also find 

 another species of this genus, Libellula quadrimaculata, having 

 four spots upon each of its gauzy wings; and then there is that 

 yellowish red fellow, so frequently seen hawking over the quiet 

 pools and ponds during the same time of the year (Diplax ruM- 

 cundula), with its ally, D. Berenice. But we can refer to no 

 others here, and science has already described some 2,000 of these 

 insects, occurring as they do in nearly all parts of the world. 



The method of reproduction among dragon-flies varies some- 

 what with the species, and we have yet much to learn in regard 

 to it. One thing is sure, however, and that is, the gravid female 

 in some of the forms either lays her eggs singly or in masses, 

 accomplishing the act by hovering over the water, and suddenly 

 dipping the apex of her abdomen into that element, thus ejects 

 the eggs, which slowly sink to the bottom. Others alight upon 

 the stalks of certain aquatic plants, and backing down upon these 

 till the abdomen is well beneath the water, there perform the act 

 of oviposition. Still others deposit beneath the water, in in- 

 cisions they make in the stems and leaves of plants, a single egg 

 in each, effecting the necessary cut by means of a special appa- 

 ratus that is a part of the economy of the insect. Sometimes the 

 male descends with the female, and sometimes two of the latter 

 sex insert their eggs into the stalklet of the same aquatic plant. 



