DRAGONFLIES. 179 



In 1857 Dr. Hagen published in the 'Entomologist's Annual' 

 for that year a brief monograph of the British species, and also 

 appended descriptions of others which he was of opinion might 

 be found here. And in the early numbers of ' Science Gossip ' 

 for 1881 Mr. E. B. Kemp-Welch has re-described our British 

 Dragonflies. 



From these works it may be learnt that 46 species have been 

 recorded for Great Britain, and out of these 10 are represented 

 by single examples (or at most by two specimens). Besides 

 these, one species (L. dubia) is reported to be very rare ; so that 

 it seems probable we have about 35 species which are fairly 

 represented. 



Now one great requisite of the Libellulse is water, not neces- 

 sarily large rivers, but shallow ponds and streams, and these are 

 not very plentiful in West Cornwall as compared with other 

 English counties ; besides which must be taken into account the 

 physical conformation of this area, and its situation, almost, so to 

 speak, in mid-ocean. 



Therefore we can scarcely hope to find a large number of 

 these insects ; and of those which do occur, we should naturally 

 expect a preponderance of the more feeble and sluggish species, 

 rather than of tbe larger and more powerfully- winged species. 

 And this is exactly what we find to be the case. 



[While on the subject of Dragonflies, we may appropriately quote 

 some curious observations made by Mr. W. H. Hudson on the Dragonflies 

 inhabiting the South-American Pampas and Patagonia, which appeared in 

 ' The Field ' of October 9th, 1886.— Ed.] 



" One of the most curious things I have encountered in my 

 observations on animal life relates to a habit of the larger species 

 of Dragonflies inhabiting the Pampas and Patagonia. Dragon- 

 flies are abundant throughout the country wherever there is water. 

 There are several species, all more or less brilliantly coloured. 

 The kinds that excited my wonder, from their habits, are twice 

 as large as the common widely -distributed insects, being three 

 to four inches in length, and, as a rule, they are sober-coloured, 

 although there is one species — the largest among them — entirely 

 of a brilliant scarlet. This kind is, however, exceedingly rare. 



p 2 



