154 THE entomologist's record. 



One of the first really reliable records as to the exact species con- 

 cerned was that made by Dr. Hagen, at Konigsberg, in 1852. The 

 insect in question was I'latctniii} flcjnrssHw, a species that is rather 

 abundant in Britain. The doctor states that " the insects were so 

 numerous that they formed a compact band. The last portion of the 

 swarm took up its abode for the night in the suburbs of Konigsberg, 

 w^here the specimens covered the houses and trees, and the next morn- 

 ing proceeded on their journey in the same direction as their 

 predecessors." 



The distribution of some well-known species of dragonflies is 

 certainly very remarkable. McLachlan records four species as captured 

 by Mathew in the Sandwich Islands, in June, 1873. These w^ere : — 

 (1) Aua.r jiinitia, Drury, a common species in North America, and also 

 recorded as an inhabitant of the Polynesian Islands. (2) The nearly 

 cosmopolitan Paiitala flavef^ccn!^, F. (3) A Trainra, apparently in- 

 separable from T. laccrata, Hagen, which, originally recorded from 

 Texas, has also been taken in Maryland, Mexico, and the north of 

 California. (-1) A small species of the Ai/ridnidac Mathew notes that 

 the three first-named of these species were very abundant, and preyed 

 on the imagines of a Noctuid moth, a species of Hadena, that occurs 

 in countless multitudes in the islands. He states that these dragon- 

 flies used (or seemed) to follow him in numbers as he walked through 

 the grass, darting oft' to the right or left in full chase as soon as a 

 moth was disturbed. 



Mathew, on the same voyage, also caught several specimens of 

 Pantala Jii/ijioicwa, Hagen (a species that had hitherto not been recorded 

 from any locality south of Mexico), at Payta, Peru. This species 

 occurred along the sea-coast, and he expresses surprise as to what the 

 larvre could possibly have fed on, since there was no fresh Avater within 

 many miles of Payta, and rain is almost unknown there. He noted 

 that just above high water mark in some places there were large 

 patches of a species of Mcsfnibrj/anthoiuiin, above which the dragonflies 

 were always to be seen hawking. McLachlan considers there is no doubt 

 that P. liymcnaca is migratory, like its congener P. fUivcscenii, and that 

 those that Mathew saw were en rnyaf/e. From Vancouver Island the 

 same observer recorded our well-known migratory species, Libdlula 

 quadriwacidata, which appears to be generally distributed over all the 

 boreal parts of the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions. 



An account of an extensive migration of the last-named species, 

 which was observed at Malmo, in SAveden, on June 21th, 1883, is 

 giA'en (Nature, xxA'iii., p. 271) by NeAvton. He states that on that 

 date an extraordinary flight of L. qiiadrhnacidata Avas Avitnessed, 

 Avhich passed OA'er, or through, the toAAai or neighbourhood for about 

 half-an-hour in the afternoon. The next day they reappeared for more 

 than an hour ; but on the 26th, at 7.30 a.m., they again began in 

 millions, and, notAvithstanding the wind had shifted to the south 

 during the night, they held the same course from north-Avest by AA'est, 

 heading south-east by east. The streets, shipping, and eA'ery place 

 were full of them. They did not fly very high, and seemed to avoid 

 going into open doors and AvindoAvs. Some hundred or so "alighted on 

 the gooseberry bushes, apple and pear trees, in the garden, but never 

 touched the fruit." One example Avas observed sitting on the dead 

 tip of an apple tAvig, and " although pushed off Avith a stick thirteen 



