OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 33 



The Cordulinse are preeminently thicket dwellers, their long, 

 slender legs and unusually developed feet being specially adapted 

 for clinging to twigs, while their wings, although large in Ma- 

 cromia, do not appear to be capable of sustained flight. The road 

 across the sandy plain between the Harvey school-house and 

 Goffe's Falls is the particular station for this species in the vicinity 

 of Manchester. Here they are found, about the first week in June, 

 in well-nigh countless numbers, resting in dark thickets by the 

 roadside and ever and anon darting in quick, jerk}^ flight across 

 the roadway, returning, if nothing befalls, almost instantly. Soon- 

 er or later, however, it makes its last excursion, for the birds have 

 learned something of the habits of' Macromia. One need but 

 remain motionless and watchful to observe many a tragedy of a 

 bright June day on the Goffe's Falls road. Sometimes for min- 

 utes there will be neither Dragon-fly nor bird in sight — only 

 small insects dancing in the sun. Suddenly a Macromia will dart 

 zig-zag across the roadway, and as suddenly a bird will swoop 

 down from a tree above. The bird is not always successful, but 

 not infrequently its aim is correct, and it flies triumphantly to a 

 neighboring bough, where it leisurely swallows the victim, in the 

 process breaking off the wings, which float slov/ly to the ground. 

 The destruction by the birds is so great that whereas on some 

 particular day hundreds of these Dragon-flies may be observed it 

 will- be found next to impossible a week later to secure a single 

 specimen, while a careful observer will discover wings in vast 

 numbers scattered beneath the trees. Terrific as is the slaugh- 

 ter, certain species of birds apparently giving their attention to 

 nothing else while the Dragon-flies last, the succeeding genera- 

 tion of Macromia is unaffected, for oviposition has taken place in 

 the dark pools of Cohas brook before the fatal migration to the 

 roadway on the plains is undertaken. The female of Macromia 

 is strikingly beautiful, marked with orange and yellow bands upon 

 the abdominal segments. The male is smaller and would not be 

 recognized as being of the same species if the two were not taken 

 together. Length of female, 90 millimetres ; alar expanse, 98 mil- 

 limetres. Length of male, 55-60 ; alar expanse, 72. 



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