88 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



occur in Scotland, and of these I have met with only eleven 

 in the Forth area. It is possible that one or two others — 

 Leiicorhima diibia, and j^schna cceridea, for instance — may 

 yet be discovered among the hills and glens at the head 

 of the valley. As regards the past, we may feel sure that 

 when ponds, peat-mosses, marshes, and meadows were more 

 numerous, so were dragon-flies. 



In this district I have heard the name " Fleein' Edder " 

 applied to the larger species. Sibbald, "Historia Animalium 

 in Scotia," 1684, says, "Ex non favicantibus apud nos — 

 Perla, the Adder's hoult or Dragon-fly" 



I am greatly indebted to my Iriend Mr K. J. Morton for 

 examining a number of my specimens, and for otherwise 

 imparting to me much information concerning dragon-flies 

 in general. 



A list of the works cited is given at the end of the paper. 

 The order of the species and the nomenclature are the same 

 as in Lucas's book (7). 



ODONATA. 



Family LIBELLULIDiE. 



Sympetrum striolatum (Charp.). 



While not uncommon in the western division of Scotland, 

 where I have obtained it several times, this is a rare dragon- 

 fly in the eastern section. A specimen in my collection 

 was taken in the Callander district in the early "seventies"; 

 and no doubt the species still occurs in that, the western, 

 portion of " Forth " : it has not, however, come under my 

 notice there in recent years. In the neighbourhood of Edin- 

 burgh I have only once met with aS'. striolatum, namely, on 

 27th July 1901, when a single example was discovered 

 basking in the sunshine on a sandy spot by the side of 

 a dry ditch on Luffness Links. It must, I think, have been 

 a wanderer from a distance. About a fortnight before, my 

 wife saw a bright red dragon-fly, the size of this species, 

 settle for a moment on the top of a tramway car at Brunts- 

 field, a busy jDart of Edinburgh. Possibly some immigrants 

 had reached us from the east. 



