THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



waters were to be seen Myriophyllum verucosum. On the edges 

 a few plants of Nitella gelatinosa were collected, but they had no 

 fruit. By means of our leader's spoon apparatus some blue- 

 green plants were lifted off the muddy bottom ; they turned out to 

 be two species of Oscillatorise, Lingbya stagnina and Galothrix 

 confervicola." 



J. Shephard. 



NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN DRAGON-FLIES. 



By F. L. Billinghurst. 



(Communicated by T. S. Hall, M.A.) 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 13th Nov., 1899.) 



Last summer, at the request of M. Rene Martin, a French 

 entomologist, who is a specialist on the Odonata (Dragon-flies), I 

 collected a number of the species occurring in this district 

 (Alexandra), and forwarded them to him for purposes of study. 

 As the collecting of a certain order of insects naturally excites 

 some amount of interest in that order, I asked M. Martin to 

 forward me some literature on the subject, but he replied that 

 virtually there was none, but in order to afford me some help he 

 wrote out a few notes on the classification, &c, of the Odonata. 

 These were not intended for publication, and are somewhat 

 incomplete, but it having been represented to me that they might 

 be of use to Victorian entomologists I have made a translation of 

 the part referring to the Australian genera. Later on, when I get 

 some further particulars I have written for, I propose to compile 

 a list of the species of Alexandra, some 40 in number, with short 

 descriptions by which they can be recognized. 



The general appearance of a Dragon-fly is well known and 

 requires little description, but a few characteristics may be 

 mentioned. 



The abdomen is comparatively long and slender, and consists 

 of ten segments, counting from the thorax, and an anal tubercle, 

 terminated in the male by three or four appendages, two superior, 

 and one or two inferior ; in the female by two appendages only. 

 The genital organs of the male are situated on the second 

 segment of the abdomen. 



The wings are strongly veined, and as the venation serves 

 largely towards the classification of the families and genera, the 

 enlarged diagram given of two typical wings will be useful. Five 

 large veins proceed from the base of each wing, the anterior or 

 first is the costa, the second the sub-costa, then the median, the 

 sub-median, and the post-costa. 



