HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2 °5 



invented by means of which those possessing a 

 powerful flight may be procured with less difficulty 

 than they are at present. 



Dragon-flies Flying in the Rain. 



This curious circumstance was witnessed by myself 

 in August 1S91, near Lyndhurst in the New Forest. 

 One morning it turned out rather showery, but the 

 showers were of very short duration although of 

 frequent occurrence, and immediately they were over 

 the sun would shine forth again in all his glory. 



their opportunities and had consequently to be thank- 

 ful for small mercies, like their relatives in high 

 altitudes, as well as in certain sunless parts of the 

 world. How readily can some species adapt them- 

 selves to adverse climatic conditions in comparison 

 with others. 



An Afternoon with /Eschna grandis. 



One calm morning, in the beginning of July, I 

 packed up my "traps," and took the ten o'clock 

 train from Snow Hill Station, Birmingham, to 



Fig. 124. — SEsckna cyanea, together with its larva and pupa. (From same.) 



Provided the rain was not too heavy certain species 

 of dragon-flies, notably Calopteryx virgo and Sympe- 

 trum vulgalum, disdained to seek shelter, but kept 

 flying about more or less the whole time, in company 

 with various kinds of butterflies (especially E. janira 

 and E. hyperanthes). 



The fact was, it being such a wet summer, the 

 poor insects were compelled to make the most of 



Solihull, which I reached in about half an hour's 

 time. A sharp walk of a little over an hour's 

 duration, through pleasant lanes, brought me to 

 Chalcot Wood, near Earlswood, a famous Warwick- 

 shire hunting-ground for insects. 



After arriving at my destination, the first dragon- 

 fly I saw was a fine specimen of /Esc/ma cyanea, 

 followed almost immediately by two others of the 



