82 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
And meadow, set with slender galingale ; 
A land where all things always seem’d the same !”’ 
By the margin of the pond where we find Cyperus 
dentatus, Torr. we may, perhaps, see one of those trans- 
formations which form an interesting subject of study 
in the animal world. This is a suitable spot to watch 
the dragon-flies, great and small, as they dart over the 
water, flashing with their beautiful colors. The dragon- 
fly, as well as the butterfly, has three stages of growth, 
after being hatched from the egg. At first it lives in 
the water as a larva or grub, developed from one of a 
series of eggs laid by a dragon-fly on a, leaf of some 
water plant. It is chiefly remarkable for its masked 
mouth and for the power of moving by means of a jet 
of water expelled from the tail. It spends most of its 
life in this state, crawling about on the bottom of the 
pond and feeding upon other aquatic insects. After 
some months it attains its full size, having changed its 
skin many times, and is now in the pupa state, which 
differs from the larval state chiefly in being larger and 
in developing rudimentary wings. In this state it is 
just as active and voracious as the larva was, and leads 
a similar life. But by-and-by the time arrives for the 
final transformation. The pupa crawls slowly up the 
stem of some water plant which reaches above the sur- 
face. Gradually the outer skin splits and the perfect 
