310 THE DRAGON-FLY. 
pool, the pupa gradually works its way out of the larva- 
skin. It is now considerably larger than before. Imme- 
diately after this tedious operation, its body is soft, but 
the crust soon hardens. This change, with most se 
probably occurs early in summer. 
When about to change into the adult fly, the pupa 
climbs up some plant near the surface of the water. 
Again its back yawns wide open, and from the rent our 
Drigouly: slowly emerges. For an hour or more, it 
remains torpid and listless, with its flabby, soft wings re- 
maining motionless. The fluids leave the surface, the 
crust hardens and dries, rich and varied tints appear, and 
our Dragon-fly rises into its new world of light and sun- 
shine a gorgeous, but repulsive being. Tennyson thus 
describes these changes in “The Two Vioioue "NS 
To-day I saw the Dr 
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail. 
H wings; o gauze they grew; 
Through rohé and pastures with with dew 
A living flash of light h he fl 
Of our more common, typical ‘ies of Dragon-flies, we 
figure a few, commonly observed during the summer. 
Libellula trimaculata of Count De Geer, a Swedish ento- 
mologist, of which Fig. 1, Plate 9, represents the male, 
is so-called from the three dark clouds on the wings of 
the female. But the opposite sex differs in having a , dark 
patch at the front edge of the wings, and a single broad 
cloud just beyond the middle of the wing. 
Libellula quadrimaculata (Fig. 2, Plate 9), the four- 
spotted Dragon-fly, i is seen on the wing in June, flying 
through dry pine woods. 
The largest of our Dragon-flies are the “Devil’s Darning- - 
