DRAGONFLY SEASON OP 1899. 139 



Lepidoptera, Mr. Fremlin brought home a few dragonflies, as 

 samples of what the district was capable of producing in that 

 direction. They were : I. elegans, P. nymphula, E. cyathigerum, 

 Msclina juncea, L. quadrimaculata, and S. striolatum. The first 

 five call for no special notice, except that L. quadrimaculata 

 was small and of the clearly marked but little suffused Scotch 

 form; but the two specimens (both females) of S. striolatum 

 crave somewhat closer attention. In size each is but little larger 

 than a well-grown S. scoticimi, and in general appearance, espe- 

 cially in the colouring of the sides of the thorax, closely resembles 

 that insect. In the typical S. striolatum the sides of the thorax 

 have two well-defined broad yellow oblique bands, separated by a 

 duller somewhat interrupted third one. In the Stornoway speci- 

 men the middle band is reduced to a few spots (Plate IV., a) much 

 as in S. scoticum. The amount of black colouring on the sides of 

 the abdomen also point a little in the direction of S. scoticum, 

 though the arrangement of those markings on the whole recall 

 S. striolatum. The vulvar scale appears to be of a form inter- 

 mediate between those of the two species, for, though not pointed 

 as in S. scoticum, it does not appear to be at all notched as in 

 S. striolatum. On the other hand, the pterostigma (Plate IV., a) 

 is decidedly that of S. striolatum, and the yellow mark on the 

 metasternum (Plate IV., a a), though rather sharply defined, 

 resembles that of S. striolatum rather than of S. scoticum. 

 Further, which is perhaps more important than all, the legs are 

 clearly lined with yellow above, as in the division of the genus 

 Sympetrum, to which striolatum belongs, whereas in the scoticum 

 division they are black. The conclusion to which we must 

 come, seeing that there are two specimens, thus precluding an 

 aberration, appears to be that the insects belong to a form of 

 S. striolatum somewhat resembling S. scoticum (possibly a local 

 race), or else that both insects are hybrids between the two 

 species ; Mr. McLachlan, who has examined the insects, inclines 

 to the latter opinion. Should any entomologist visit Stornoway 

 during the coming season he may perhaps be able to throw some 

 light upon the subject. 



Sympetrum flaveolum was again present in good numberson 

 Ockham Common in August. The locality was visited during 

 the month by Mr. H. J. Turner once, and by myself twice, but 

 only males were taken ; and we must conclude that the presence of 

 the species was due to another migration. Kev. J. E. Tarbat took 

 a male near Wokingham about July 6th, and I probably saw one 

 near Christchurch. It should be stated that Mr. W. H. Harwood 

 took a female at St. Osyth, in Essex, on a part of the coast where 

 it would be hardly likely to breed. With S.flaveolum, on Ock- 

 ham Common, several specimens of Sympetrum sanguineum were 

 taken, one being a female. Mr. Turner also took a female at 

 Cliffe Marshes, near Gravesend, and Mr. Harwood states that 



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