NEUROPTERA. 



Order. NEUROPTERA. Linnanis. 



jESHNA CLAVATA. 



Plate 45. fig. 1. 



Family. Liisellulid/E, Leach. 



Genus. jEsiina, Fabr. Libcllula p. Linn. Donov. Cordulegaster, Leach. 



Cn. Sp. IE. abdomine clavato, basi gibbo ; corpore nigro, fusco viridique variegato. Expans 



alar. 3J unc. 

 IE. with the abdomen clavate gibbose at the base ; body black, varied with brown and 



green; stigma brown. Expanse of the wings 3 J inches. 

 SrN. iEshna clavata, Fabr. Ent. Syst. II. p. 385. Spec. Ins. 1. p. 526. 4. 



Linnaeus divides the dragon flies (Libcllula, Linn) into two sections : — " 1. alis paten- 

 tibus acquiescentes ;" and "2. (alis erectis) oculi distantes remotique." Fabricius divides 

 the Linnsean Libellulse into three distinct genera ; the first retains the Lmnsean name, 

 the second and third are called Aeshna and Agrion. Their most essential characters 

 are taken from the form and situation of the mouth, and therefore require a deep magnifier 

 to determine them with accuracy. Donovan states, that he had examined those parts in 

 the greater number of the species Fabricius has described, and found his characters agree, 

 except in one instance ; which Donovan nevertheless considered a proof of the impracti- 

 cability of adopting the whole of his system : he describes Libellula Chinensis, and refers 

 to the only figure that has been given of it, in one of the plates of Edwards's Natural 

 History of Birds, 1745.* Had Fabricius ever seen and examined this rare species, he 

 must have referred it to his genus Agrion, each of the lips being bifid, or two-cleft, as 

 in Libellula virgo and puella, — the essential characteristic of the genus Ao-rion ; for the 

 mouths of the Libellulae of Fabricius differ altogether in structure, and are not notched 

 in the slightest degree, as Libellula clavata, ferruginea, 6-maculata, and the European 

 species, Libellula depressa, will sufficiently illustrate. 



Donovan, however, rejecting the Fabrician generic distribution, states, that iEshna 

 clavata must be arranged with L. grandis and forcipata ; but it is nearer allied to Cor- 

 dulegaster annulatus, Leach (Libellula Boltoni of Donovan's British Insects.) 



* That Fabricius should have erred in the location of a species which he had never seen, but knew only 

 through a rude figure, is not surprizing; but surely such a circumstance can be no proof of the impropriety of 

 a system founded, as Donovan clearly shews, on characters of stability. J. O. W. 



