466 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the laterals are one fourth as long, and the superiors eight ninths as long 

 as the inferiors. 



Some smaller nymphs from the creek show a middorsal black band on 

 the abdomen, divided by a median row of small yellow spots, largest on 

 the eighth segment. 



Basiaeschna Janata Say 



1839 Aeschna Janata Say, Acad. nat. sci. Phil. Jour. 8 : 13 

 1842Ae8chna minor Earn bur, Ins. Neur. p. 207 

 1861 Aeschna Janata Hagen, Synopsis Neur. N. Am. p. 125 

 1875 Aeschna Janata Hagen, Bost. soc. nat. hist. Proc. 18:33 (full bibli- 

 ography and distribution) 

 1895 Basiaeschna Janata Calvert, N. Y. ent. soc. Jour. 3 : 45 (hsted from' 

 Keeseville) 



1899 Basiaeschna Janata Kellicott, Odon. Ohio, p. 81 (description) 



1900 Basiaeschna Janata Williamson, Dragon flies Ind. p. 301 (descrip- 



tion) 



This species is perhaps the earliest of the Aeschninae. It was 

 common about the hatchery grounds on our arrival, and had about dis- 

 appeared by midsummer. I got mostly immature nymphs at Saranac 

 Inn, but I bred the species abundantly at Ithaca several years ago. 

 I saw females ovipositing several times during the first week of our stay 

 at Saranac Inn, and watched the process once in detail. In each 

 instance observed the eggs were deposited in leaves of a species of bur- 

 reed, Sparganium, which, where it grew in the deeper water of the 

 creek, trailed its long leaves on the surface of the stream. The female 

 flitted from plant to plant, making a few thrusts with her ovipositor into 

 each at the water line, and then settled and balanced herself carefully on 

 a long, floating leaf; this was doubtless a most favorable place for the 

 eggs, and she settled down to more extensive operations. Backing down 

 into the water till the abdomen was wholly submerged, she began 

 thrusting with her ovipositor, first to right and then to left, moving for- 

 ward a httle between thrusts, leaving behind a double row of egg punc- 

 tures, as regular as the neatest double stitching that might be done with 

 a needle. Several such double rows of eggs were placed in the tissues 

 of this leaf before she left it. The leaf was found to be thickly covered 

 on the under side (as all submerged surfaces were covered in the creek 

 at that time) with hundreds of red hydras, in all stages of budding. I 

 placed the leaf in a hatchery trough, where the hydras remained in good 

 condition till after the hatching of the eggs. 



Nymph. Total length 43 mm ; abdomen 30 mm; hind femur 6 mm; 

 width of head 7.5 mm; of abdomen 8 mm. 



Body elongate, slender, nearly smooth ; color brownish black, with 

 paler rings on the femora and tibiae, three or four rings on each ; pale 



