38 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. [February 



Dragon flies are all a.quatic in the larval and pupal states. The 

 eggs are deposited in various ways by different species. Darwin says 

 the Libellula lay their eggs in jelly-like masses on the surface of ponds, 

 and that the Agrions crawl deep in the water along the stems of 

 submerged plants, and with their sword-like ovipositor, cut gashes 

 into the stalk and insert their eggs therein. I saw Catoptevyx splendens 

 at Esher, settle on a Vvater plant, and deposit its eggs on part of the 

 part of the plant that was under water, the abdomen being plunged 

 under the surface, whilst the remainder of the insect was on the plant 

 above. I saw Eschna cyanea settle on a mossy bank overhanging a 

 pond, and begin to apply the end of the abdomen to the bank as 

 though ovipositing; it would then fly off to another part of the bank 

 and do the same again. It was so intent upon what it was doing 

 that I was enabled to take it with my hand. I scraped oft' some of 

 the moss, but I could not detect any ova. I asked, through the 

 " British Naturalist,*' what it was likely to be doing, but no one was 

 able to reply. When the eggs hatch, which is in about a week, the 

 larva is like the pupa except there being no sign of wings, and as 

 their metamorphosis is incomplete they become more like the imago 

 eacli time they shed their skin. The larvae are very voracious* and 

 nothing comes amiss to them, water insects, tadpoles, small fish, and 

 even worms and snails; and they in turn sometimes fall a prey to the 

 Water Tiger [Dytiscus marginalis) and others of the genus. The larvae 

 are rather heavy and slow in their movements so they cannot often 

 capture their prey by the chase, but to compensate for that their 

 lower lip is considerably prolonged, and ends in a claw. This 

 instrument is jointed, so that it folds up under the thorax when not in 

 use, and is then invisible; the claw covers the face or lower part of 

 the head. It is in consequence called a mask. When any small 

 animal, unsuspecting danger, ventures near enough, out flies the claw 

 and the creature is seized and brought to the mouth. They prefer to 

 get under their prey, and seize them, like the shark, with an upward 

 stroke. 



Strange to say they breathe by means of their intestines, which 

 are covered with numerous trachea. When it wishes to breathe, it 

 opens the orifice to the intestines and admits a quantity of water, 

 containing air in suspension, which is taken up by the trachea. The 

 v/ater thus introduced, can, at the will of the larva, be expelled with 

 considerable violence, which projects them to some distance. Before 

 emerging from their pupa skin, they crawl up some water plant and 

 fasten themselves to it, then they burst the pupa-case down the back 

 hke other insects. In a pond near Clapton I have seen great numbers 

 of the empty cases on the water plants. Their wings are very 



