90 



INSECT LIFE. 



Yonder flies a tiny insect, a midge or a mosquito ; 

 as we watch it, a dragon-fly darts at it and it is gone. 

 Now that we have learned what to watch for, we see 

 insect after insect destroyed by the rapacious crea- 

 ture ; no wonder that it is called a dragon. 



Other dragon-flies have come to our pond. Some 

 of them are behaving quite differently from the one 

 that is hawking mosquitoes. They soar over the 

 pond, and at frequent intervals swoop down and 

 touch the water with the tip of the abdomen. Why 

 do they do this? Are they at play splashing the 

 water like a child? No, these are females laying 

 their eggs. The young of dragon-flies lead a very 

 different life from that of the adult. They live be- 

 neath the water upon the bottom of the pond or 

 stream as the case may be ; and the adult places 

 her eggs in such a position that when the young 

 hatch they will be in their proper element. 



Not all dragon-flies lay their eggs as these are 

 doing. On one occasion the writer, in company with 

 his class, saw a dragon-fly poising herself in the air a 

 short distance above the point where a water-plant 

 emerged from the water. At frequent intervals the 

 insect descended with a swift curved movement, 

 pushing the end of her abdomen into the water. On 

 examination a large cluster of eggs was found at- 

 tached to the plant just below the surface. And 

 Prof. Uhler has observed a dragon-fly alight upon a 

 reed, and, pushing the end of her body below the 

 surface of the water, glue a bunch of eggs to the 

 submerged stem. 



The dragon-flies that we have been observing 

 hold their wings spread out stiffly when at rest (Fig. 



