490 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
Anal appendages short, narrow and _ lanceolate. 
Hab. This and the following species, as well as the whole of the species of 
Gynacantha are alike in possessing the curious habit of ovipositing in dry earth. 
Dr. Laidlaw quotes an interesting note made by Dr. Annandale on a number of 
females which he observed ovipositing in dry, earthy banks about one to two feet 
above water level. Five or six eggs were deposited with great rapidity in each 
spot. The anal appendages in this species are very short and so are not liable 
to damage whilst performing this operation as they are invariably so, in the 
Gynacantha. The dentigerous plate is employed by the insect to obtain a purchase 
for the end of its abdomen whilst drilling the hole for each egg, the spines pre- 
venting any slipping. 
Tam indebted to Mr. H. Stevens for examples of this interesting and fine 
insect. Darjiling District and Northern Assam are the districts to which 
this insect is restricted. 
Aschna erythromelas, MacLachlan, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (6), xvii, p. 
419 (1896), Martin, Cat. Coll. Selys, Aeschnines, p- 62, fig. 58. Laidlaw, 
Rec. Ind. Mus., Vol. 88, p. 88, (1921). 
Male. Abdomen 68 mm. Hindwing 53 mm. 
Female. Abdomen 60 mm. Hindwing 57 mm. 
Male. : Head. Labium, labrum and epistome 
brown; frons olivaceous with a broad, 
ill-defined, black, T-like mark on its upper 
surface and slightly overlapping its anterior 
surface ; eyes brown but probably greenish 
during life, broadly contiguous; occiput 
small, black. 
Prothorax and thorax dark brown, the 
latter with a green, antehumeral band on 
each side and two very broad, similarly 
coloured bands at the sides. 
Legs black, the femora with reddish 
spines. 
Wings hyaline, the costa black; stigma 
very small, black; membrane white ; 
anal triangle with 3 to 4 cells; Rs (5th or 
subnodal sector) forked at the level of the 
inner end of the stigma and enclosing 5 
to 6 rows of cells between it and Rspl (5a), 
trigones with 5 to 6 cells in the forewing. 
5 in the hind ; 4 to 5 nervures in the hyper- 
trigone of forewing, 4 in the hind; nodal 
17-24 26-17 
index ;———-— --——_;; 11 cellsin the loop. 
18-17 16-19 
i. Terminal segments of abdo- Abdomen very long and _ cylindrical, 
men of 4ischna erythromelas show- the base tumid, tapering rapidly from the 
ing (a) dentigerous plate. 3rd segment, oreillets small. but pro- 
ii. The same of schna orni- minent, lobes of the sexual organs on the 
thocephala. 3rd segment prominent, quadrate. Colour 
reddish brown marked with yellow as fol- 
lows :—segment 1 has a fine, lateral, apical streak, segment 2 has 2 median. 
spots, a fine yellow annule and the sides rather broadly yellow, segment 3 has 
a continuation of the yellow on the sides, two median spots and an apical annule, 
segments 4 to 7 have the same median spots and apical ring, segments 8 to 10 
are unmarked. The latter segment has a blunt tubercle or low ridge on its dorsum 
and its dorsal carina is pronounced. 
