REVIEW OF THE DRAGON-FLIES OF WISCONSIN. 
By Richard A. Muttkowski. 
The fauna of Wisconsin, especially that pertaining to the in- 
sects, has been but little explored. Except for Milwaukee County, 
which has been rather thoroughly canvassed by entomologists, 
there are probably only ten counties out of seventy-one where col- 
lections of dragon-flies have been made to any extent. To arouse 
the interest of entomologists in Wisconsin and to encourage the 
study of our most interesting fauna, this review has been pre- 
pared. 
HISTORY OF THE ODONATA. In early times probably 
no other order had attributed to it pernicious qualities to such an 
extent as the Odonata. Such beliefs as their supposedly poison- 
ous bite, the malevolent properties of the brown excretion, the 
fearsome consequences of their sting, were only too common. 
Thus is remained for Linnaeus to glean whatever truth there was 
from the mass of contradictory superstitions. But one name stood 
out from the numerous appellations, the name of W^ater Nymph; 
at once Linnaeus recognized the appropriateness of the name, and 
from that time our knowledge of the Odonata is dated. Among 
the first to comprehensively treat the group was Reaumur, who in- 
dicated the natural subdivisions of the Odonata, his suggestions 
being later utilized by Fabricus, who first proposed for the group 
the name Odonata. Following him, Leach, Say, Burmeister, Ha- 
gen, de Selys-Longchamps, and recent workers have increased our 
knowledge, until at the present time the Dragon-flies are fairly 
well-known. 
The name Odonata signifies tooth and is characteristic in view 
of the greatly developed labial teeth of the nymph. Of common 
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