DRAGON -FLIES. 251 



large as a pea will occupy a minute and a half or 

 more before it has all disappeared. But a morsel of 

 such a size is not held with one claw, but with the 

 jaws, and nibbled away. I think it likely that they 

 catch and devour small animals, as fishes or reptiles. 

 I disabled a small Anolis to prevent its escape, and 

 threw it near to a Flat-crab : the latter leaped 

 fiercely upon it, and seized it with both claws, one 

 holding it by the head, and the other by the loins. 

 It then began to munch the fore-foot with a per- 

 ceptible crackling of the bones, eating up towards 

 the shoulder. As if fearful of losing its prey, how- 

 ever, it presently retired with it under the root of a 

 tree, and I unfortunately lost sight of it. When two 

 Flat-crabs approach each other, they usually mani- 

 fest distrust and timidity, retreating or turning aside : 

 but sometimes they cautiously feel each other by 

 stretching out the feet, not the claws. In this action, 

 again, they strongly remind one of Spiders. 



A SWARM OF DRAGON-FLIES. 



October 8th. — What appeared to me an unusual 

 trait in the economy of Dragon-flies occurred to my 

 uotice. In the afternoon, I observed, over the stream 

 that runs through Bluefields, and near the point 

 where it plunges over the limestone rock in a little 

 cascade, a swarm of these insects in jthe air, about 

 twenty feet from the level of the ground. They 

 floated and danced much in the manner of gnats, 

 which they resembled also in the immense numbers 

 which were associated ; a most unusual circumstance, 

 for I conjectured that there were not fewer than 



