6 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '05 



But I had another errand dragonfly at Pettibone Creek this 

 afternoon. In May I had found a single nymph of a species 

 of Somatochlora in the rapid portion of the stream between 

 two pools. I took it home alive, and a visitor to my labora- 

 tory (who meant well), fed it to the fishes in the aquarium. I 

 went again to the creek, and with considerable searching, 

 found three more. All were clinging to matted sedge roots in 

 the edge of the current, and were obtained by stripping the 

 mats upward with a little sieve dipper. I had never seen a 

 live imago of Somatochlora in Illinois and I thought this after- 

 noon I might find one, or, more probably, find some empty 

 nymph skins to supplement my scanty supply of the nymphs. 



Dame fortune was kind. On the very bank that trailed in 

 the undercutting stream the root mats from which I had taken 

 the nymphs, there sat a fine male of Somatochlora linearis 

 beside its recently abandoned skin ; a few feet distant sat sim- 

 ilarly an equally fine female, and I took them both in out of 

 the weather. 



Within ten feet of the two imagos I found a dozen nymph 

 skins of the same species, clinging to the grass up which they 

 had climbed none of them more than a foot above the surface 

 of the water. 



These proved to be the same species as the nymph I have 

 already described (in Bull. 68, N. Y. State Museum, p. 269), 

 as Somatochlora sp. No. 2, a live specimen of which came into 

 my possession at Ithaca eight years ago, and was lost through 

 my own ignorance. They are older, and dirtier, and do not 

 show the color pattern I there described ; but they are no 

 doubt the same species ; no other imagos were seen. But I had 

 enough for one afternoon. Any naturalist who has been long 

 bafiied in seeking acquaintance with some little resident of his 

 own neighborhood will understand my feeling of satisfaction 

 at having made some progress knowing these two shy favorites 

 of mine. How delightful had been this afternoon. It had 

 yielded me new life history material ; it had furnished the 

 keys to long standing puzzles, and it had provided me choice 

 specimens to be shared with my friends who love them, and 

 who have generously shared their own treasures with me. Are 

 not these the abiding pleasures of a naturalist ? 



