ODONATA IN GERMANY. 



117 



About five miles from Marburg itself towards Giessen is a 

 marsh, which proved very productive for certain species of 

 dragonflies not found elsewhere in the district. 



Almost all the species mentioned below were identified by the 

 help of Mr. Lucas's excellent book on ' British Dragonflies,' and 

 Dr. Selys's * Monographic des Libellulid^es d'Europe.' 



My thanks are especially due to Mr. K. J. Morton, of Edin- 

 burgh, who so kindly identified and distinguished the species 

 of the genus Sympetrum for me. For the identification of 

 Erythromma viridulum I am indebted to the editor of the Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., and Mr. H. Campion supplied me with information 

 about the Acari on the body of Erythromma naias. 



In this part of my paper the Anisopterid Odonata only are 

 dealt with. The second part will treat of the Zygopterides. 



The following Anisopterides were observed during the summer 

 of 1907 at Marburg-on-the-Lahn :— 



Sympetrum striolatum, Charp. — Owing to my having mistaken 

 this species for S. vulgatum, I am not quite clear as to how 

 common the former really is. At any rate, I took very few 

 specimens, and never saw the female. Its distribution seemed 

 also limited, for I have no specimens from the brickyard, the 

 river, or the marsh. 



The first specimen was taken on August 27th, and I have no 

 record of it after September 9th. 



S. vulgatum, Linn. — This interesting dragonfly was well dis- 

 tributed, but not very plentiful ; in the brickyard and along the 

 river, however, I did not observe it. 



A male and female made their appearance on August 25th, 

 and on September 23rd the species was still obtainable. 



A female taken in the marsh on September 8th had the lines 

 on the sides of the abdominal segments broadly and distinctly 

 marked, and males observed after this date had very brown 

 wings. 



S. sanguineum, Miill. — The insect occurred in plenty from 

 July to September in all the localities except in the brickyard. 

 There was little variety in the size and colour of the specimens, 

 but they were smaller than most British examples. On July 8th 

 I took the first specimen, an immature female, and the species 

 must last well into October. 



S. Jlaveohun, Linn. — The marsh was the only place where I 

 found this species. There it was very plentiful in September, 

 and exhibited great variety in size and in the amount of saffron 

 suffusion on the wings. The smallest specimens measured 

 28'5 mm. only. At first I took the latter to be hybrids of this 

 species with either S. scoticum or S. sanguineum, especially as I 

 had found the different species united per. coll. on several 

 occasions ; but Mr. Morton, to whom I sent specimens, concludes 

 that they are varieties only. 



