90 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



in the Upper Forth district. Duncan, writing in 1840 

 (3, p. 291), says: "In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh it 

 occurs at Duddingston Loch, among the Pentland Hills, and 

 elsewhere." The only occasion on which I have certainly 

 seen L. quadrimaculata anywhere near Edinburgh was on 

 8th June 1895, when I had the pleasure of watching three 

 flying about a curling-pond, surrounded by trees, near Drum- 

 shoreland, Linlithgowshire. In the summer of 1897, a 

 dragon-fly which, from the description given me, was 

 probably also of this species, was seen at the clay-pits, 

 Portobello. 



In Upper Eorth, where, as already stated, it is still locally 

 not uncommon, I met with a few examples near Aberfoyle 

 in July 1900 — on the 31st, one, a $ , was captured in a 

 boggy hollow on the hills behind the village. 



Migratory swarms of L. quadrimaculata have frequently 

 been recorded on the Continent, at Heligoland, and even on 

 the south east coast of England (c/. articles by J. W. Tutt in 

 Ent Record for 1899, pp. 153, 181, and 213); but the only 

 immigration on this side of the Tweed of which I have a 

 note is thus referred to in a paragraph from a newspaper 

 of 29th June 1900 : — "A few days ago, a flight of insects 

 was observed to alight upon the Magdalen field, at Berwick, 

 after coming from the direction of the sea. Some specimens 

 were captured, and they have been identified as ' Libellula 

 quadrimaculata' (Dragon-flies)." Gatke in his fascinating 

 book, "Heligoland as an Ornithological Observatory" (p. 89), 

 states that countless swarms suddenly make their appear- 

 ance on that island before thunderstorms. 



Family ^SOHNID^. 



Cordulegaster annulatus (Latr.). 



? Libellula vulgatissima, Stewart's List of Edinburgh Insects (1), 1809. 

 ? ^schna forcipata, List of Dollar Insects (4), 1841, New Stat. Ace, 

 viii. p. 89. 



I have never, for certain, seen this grand insect in the 

 district around Edinburgh, and if it occurs at all now it must 



