DEAGONFLIBS IN 1908. 177 



truni carulescens, very numerous, but seldom very blue in colour. 

 A. mercuriale was in yet another new locality — near Holmsley. 

 Search was made for Gomphus vulgatissimus in its known locality 

 along one of the streams in the southern part of the Forest, 

 without success : it was probably but just emerging, or there 

 may not have been sufficient sun for it. Two empty nymph- 

 skins were found, however, on the bank of another perfectly 

 distinct stream, also in the south of the Forest. 



On June 8th in the New Forest 0. carulescens and P. nijm- 

 phula were found held in captivity by Drosera intermedia, one of 

 the Sundews. Insects of this size are usually caught by the 

 wings which become useless when smeared with the tenacious 

 gum from the tentacles. These dragonflies were alive and 

 could not, I suppose, have been employed as food by the 

 plant, unless the tip of the abdomen or some other nutritious 

 part had been near enough to the tentacles to be secured 

 and attacked. No doubt such captured dragonflies would soon 

 die of starvation. On August 19th, also in the Forest, an 

 0. caruUscens was caught by the tip of a wing, but so tenacious 

 was the gum that it had to struggle to escape. 



During a week-end visit to Bedford (July 10th to July 12th) 

 Agrion puella was found between Bromham and Kempston, 

 and near Milton Ernest ; while in the second locality Ischnura 

 elegans was secured also. 



On June 14th I received from H. Towell a living male of 

 ^Eschna cyanea taken in Teddington, Middlesex. It was teneral 

 in condition, but is worthy of note on account of the date, as even 

 July 1st would be considered quite early for the species. It was 

 captured indoors and was probably bred in the water of an old 

 gravel pit close at hand. A specimen was taken on July 24th 

 near Albury on the North Downs in Surrey. On September 9th 

 I watched a male settle on the hedge-side at Shotover Hill, Oxon. 

 The weather was so poor that the insect allowed me to approach 

 and without any difficulty to take it with my fingers. Mr. N. P. 

 Fenwick, Jnr., took one on October 18th near Esher Common, 

 this being the last of which I heard — more than four months 

 after the first. On July 25th H. Hart shewed me a female 

 Mschna grandis taken in the Cemetery, Kingston-on-Thames. 



In the New Forest, from August 1st to September 4th, the 

 species noted were: — Cordidegaster anmdalm, 0. ccendescens, C. 

 virgo, P. tenelliim, Platycnemis pennipes, A. mercuriale, Sympetrum 

 scoticum, Lestes sponsa, I. elegans, L. quadrimacidata, Sympetrum 

 striolatum, Mschna mixta, M. cyanea, and E. cyathigerum. 



In the autumn Esher Common and the Black Pond within 

 its boundaries were several times visited with the following 

 results: — September 5th, a poor day, S. scoticum common, 

 S. striolatum a few, E. cyathigerum several, P. tenellum a few, 

 also a few Mschnce ; October 4th, there were seen P. tenellum 



