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OUR COMMON DRAGONFLIES.* 

 By W. E. Baily. 



Many and varied as are the animated objects peopling our 

 streams, ponds, and marshy lands, few place themselves so 

 conspicuously before us as the Dragonflies. Most of us in our 

 summer walks have frequently paused to admire the mazy 

 evolutions of these surpassingly graceful creatures, as they dart, 

 turn, and skim over the surface of some stagnant pool in search 

 of food; or soar far up in the clear air engaged in combats 

 sportive or vindicative. And so distinct a group of insects do they 

 form, that even the usually unobservant rustic knows them by 

 quaint and fanciful names, such as " horse-stang," presumably a 

 corruption of " stinger ;" and " devil's darning-needles," a title 

 doubtless conjured up from the slender body, coupled with great 

 powers of flight and most truculent aspect. It is indeed true 

 that, as regards his domestic habits, the Dragonfly must meet 

 with a rather heavy verdict at our hands ; for, unlike the butter- 

 fly or the " busy bee," he is truly a savage, ferocious fellow— the 

 terror of every peaceful insect that is unfortunate enough to 

 inhabit the locality to which his clear-winged majesty is partial. 



But to credit him with a sting is to invest him with a power 

 he does not possess ; for although his strong horny jaws will bite 

 viciously if he be captured— and their endeavours are often 

 accompanied by an ominously suggestive curl of the long slender 

 abdomen— no trace of any aculeate organs can be found. The 

 comparison between the Dragonfly and the Eagle is sufficiently 

 striking : the rapacious carnivorous habits, the strong untiring 

 flight, and the great power of vision, being the most prominent 

 characteristics of their respective families. 



These insects — although in no way injurious to man — play 

 an important part in the economy of the world ; for being abso- 

 lutely carnivorous, they render great service in thinning out the 

 superabundant insect life, and thus helping to keep within bounds 

 a host of creatures which are themselves obnoxious. 



In its larval state the Dragonfly is totally aquatic — living in 

 some stagnant pool or slow-running stream, and drawing, doubt- 



* From the 'Proceedings of the Penzance Natural History Society,' 

 1887, pp. 67—69. 



ZOOLOGIST. — MAY, 1888. P 



