om 
1909. ] FAUNA OF COCOS-KEELING ATOLL. 13) 
Originally described from the Keeling Islands. 
(This is not a common insect, and only a few examples were 
taken, all from the leaves of the Hibiscus trees on the seaward 
side of Pulu tikus.—F. W. J.} 
NEUROPTERA. 
Species determined by W. F. Kirey, F.L.S., F.E.S. 
ODONATA. 
(Native family name, “ Kachapong.”) 
(1) PANTULA FLAVESCENS Fabr. 
A very abundant insect ; it flies about all over the lagoon, and 
is present on all the islands. In April and May of 1906 the 
whole atoll swarmed with dragonflies, but for some time previous 
to that it had been very rare to meet with a single specimen. 
In the early months of 1905 these insects were entirely absent 
from the atoll. 
(2) TRAMEA ROSENBERGIL Brauer. 
First seen on May 16th, 1906, and during the fallowing week 
it became abundant; but for nearly a year previous to this it 
had not been seen, and its numbers soon diminished afterwards. 
(3) ANAx Gurratus Burm. 
This species also came first to the atoll in May 1906, and then 
only about a dozen examples were seen. 
None of these species is resident on the atoll, and there is 
no open fresh water for them to pass their early stages in. All 
are wind-borne waifs, and do not belong properly to the fauna 
of the islands, although they are at times so conspicuous a 
feature of it. 
Pantula flavescens appears to fly over the surface of the sea 
from choice, and not to be, by any means, an involuntary 
traveller; on the two occasions on which I have sailed from 
Java to the atoll, I have seen—on calm days—many dragon- 
flies hawking about above the water. It is not easy to see what 
they are seeking, and yet they do not seem to be flying about 
merely at the sport of the wind. In November of 1906, whilst 
lying 20 miles to the south of the island of Sumbawa, these 
dragonflies were seen every day, during ten days of calm, to be 
flying in all directions over the surface of the sea, and as great 
numbers of butterflies and other insects were also to be seen, 
it is probable that they were in quest of food ; any question of 
their being blown from the land was quite impossible. In 1907, 
during a spell of quite remarkable calm, dragonflies were 
seen on practically every day of a voyage between Sydney and 
Singapore. 
