184 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



practically in a straight line, at right angles to the body. 

 They were put into water from amongst the vegetation of a 

 ditch, containing a quantity of minute life. In the morning of 

 September 7th I saw two coming out of the egg, but could not 

 detect the skin containing them. As, however, they seemed to 

 be hampered in their movements, no doubt it was present. I 

 am afraid none have survived. I saw one alive on October 27th, 

 but previous to that had not seen one for a week or two, and I 

 have seen none since. 



Mr. F. H. Haines, of Winfrith, Dorset, writes to me as 

 follows with regard to captures that he made of S.fonscolombii in 

 1912 : — " On July 15th last the crimson colour of some dragon- 

 flies on a large heathland pond, north of Wareham, attracted me. 

 Though excessively wary, their numbers made captures a mere 

 matter of minutes and patient stealth. I was not collecting 

 Odonata only, so after taking eight specimens (seven males and 

 one female, the latter in cop.) we passed on. The wing nervures 

 in the female specimen were not nearly so red as in the males 

 taken, but it was teneral. S. striolatum was present, but in far 

 less numbers than the rarer species, many of which looked very 

 immature. My impression was strong that they had been bred 

 there, perhaps exceptionally through the heat of 1911. Females 

 were apparently in some numbers, even after deducting a pro- 

 portion as really females of S. striolatum, or immature males of 

 either species. Except that they are less autumnal insects, and 

 keep nearer open water, their habits seem precisely those of 

 S. striolatum. They would settle on the edges of the lake, on 

 the tops of rushes growing in or round it, or amid the heather 

 near the waterside. On July 27th I also saw many specimens 

 over, and just round, a large pond on a heath near Warm well. 

 As before their condition was very bright and fresh, and I 

 believe both sexes were present. I took a single male only for 

 purposes of identification." 



On September 9th Mr. Porritt found S. striolatum abundant 

 at various places on the Lincolnshire coast— Sutton-on- Sea, 

 Trusthorpe, Mablethorpe, &c. 



Writing from Coventry on September 16th, Mr. 0. Whittaker 

 said : — "Yesterday afternoon I saw a female Msclma (of which 

 species I could not say) engaged in oviposition. She deposited 

 her eggs in a floating leaf of Potamogeton, so that her abdomen 

 was above the surface of the water ; but as she clung to a 

 submerged leaf her head, thorax, and wings were entirely 

 beneath the surface. She remained in this position for 

 considerably more than half-an-hour (I timed her), frequently 

 moving* her wings with great rapidity. She must have laid 

 about twenty or thirty eggs in the one leaf. Unfortunately, as 

 it was some seven or eight feet from the bank, I could not 

 secure them. Besides the ovipositing dragonfly there was one 



