MIGRATION AND DISPERSAL. OF INSECTS : ODONATA. 213 



neighbourhood, as I beat out a few larvae fi'oni the maples in tha 

 hedges there last September, from which I obtainod sixteen pup^ and 

 two var. obsoleta, or 12-5 per cent. The spring forms are paler than 

 the autumnal — a whitish straw-colour generally, with, on the fore- 

 wings, intensification of the yellow on the dorsal border and at the 

 lower part of the two median lines, and a dark and conspicuous shads 

 between the two latter. Average expanse of wings 12'" -13'", as 

 compared with about 11'" for those of the brood that emerged in 189S. 

 In eight, the ring on the hind-wing is incomplete, r-nd in most there is 

 a tendency to its greater angularity than obtains in wild specimens 

 following the type. In two, it is so little marked that the variety would 

 merge into the form bi-ohftoleta, were it not for a few black dots. The 

 (? s were more in number than the J s, as might be expected from so 

 many of the latter having emerged in 1898, but, taken altogether, the 

 broods were represented nearly equally by both sexes. The sexes 

 seem to emerge in no order of precedence but indifferently. There is 

 one small aberration (10"') in which the second line of the forewing 

 is unconnected with the median which forms an independent shade, 

 and the three lines of the hindwing are distinct, the first having a 

 large ring with shaded edging resting on it externally, which has no 

 homologous marking in any other specimen I have seen. The ordinary 

 small ring is faintly represented as usual on the upper edge of the 

 median line. More of the pupte died during the winter than in pre- 

 vious years. I find single specimens of var. obsoleta have been taken 

 in other counties besides Devonshire ; one about ten years ago by Mr. 

 Harwood, at Colchester, and another four or five years ago by Colonel 

 Partridge, at Tunbridge Wells. 



Migration and Dispersal of Insects: Odonata. 



By .1. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 

 McLachlan asserts (Ent. Mo. Mitfj., vol. ix., p. 273) that " the 

 dragonfly with the widest distribution is undoubtedly Pantala jlaves- 

 crns, Fab., which is found over the greater part of the globe, excepting 

 in Europe, and that the next most widely spread species is Tholt/inis 

 tillari/a, Fab., which is found in all tropical and sub-tropical Asia, 

 Australia and Africa, in the islands of the Pacific, and even in Chili." 

 In the latter part of April and May, 1856, he notes that he observed 

 numbers of these species at sea during a protracted calm in the lower 

 part of the China Sea. They did not settle on the ship, but flew 

 leisurely at some little height over the surface of the water, apparently 

 as much at homo as if hawking over the paddy fields of the adjacent 

 islands. The observer considered that they were " no doubt taking 

 advantage of a (to them) congenial atmospheric condition, in order to 

 make an over-sea journey. It would not be unnatural to suppose that 

 the rivers of the country where they had been bred were dried up by 

 the excessive heat, and that they were seeking localities favourable for 

 the development of their future progeny," but, he adds, " this must not 

 be taken for granted, because the familiar Libcllula qnadnmaculata of 

 the tonperate regions of the northern hemisphere is a notorious 

 wand(>rer, without the excuse of a drought." There is a note [Ent. 

 Mo. Ma(j., vol. xxxii., p. 2ol) on the appearance of the same species 

 {P. jlaccscenn), far out at sea, on April 11th, 1896, at 11.0 p.m., when 



