ODONATA OF IOWA, 
LLOYD WELLS. 
Iowa Odonata have not been given their due consideration in 
entomological records of the state. The few articles that have 
been written dealing with these insects as they occur ■ within 
the state have been very local in nature. It is the purpose of 
this paper to list those species that have been recorded in the 
past, and to give new records that have been obtained during 
the writer’s recent collecting trips. In each case the locality, 
date, and collector’s name are given, where these are known. 
It was during the summer of 1916, while acting as insect col- 
lector for the Department of Z'oology at Iowa State College, 
that the writer did most of his collecting, and it was then that 
he had many opportunities to notice species of this order in 
their natural habitats. 
The Odonata have very interesting habits, and it is a real 
fascination to study them in their natural haunts. Any one 
who is interested in the group should read E. B. Williamson’s 
account of collecting dragonflies, as recorded in his publication, 
“With its advent into an aerial life our dragonfly becomes one 
of the most beautiful of insects. Strong, rapacious and daring, 
possessed of striking individualities, they offer the rarest sport 
to the collector who frequents their haunts, observing the many 
idiosyncrasies of these lords of insect creation. Here little Peri- 
themis domitia goes quietly and politely about his business, flit- 
ting from lily-pad to sedge stem, making his observations on 
the beauty of the day and the large number of diptera which 
are abroad. Plathemis lydia comes along, rudely inquiring into 
everyone’s affairs, for our Plathemis is either a restless busy- 
body or an immaculate dandy who displays himself on some 
sunny log or rock. Then piratical Anax junius rushes up, 
makes a dash at Platliemis, glances at Perithemis and passes out 
of sight into the woods along the shore. And in the sedges all 
this time myriads of 'emerald and sapphire forms fight and make 
love in their different ways.” 
In order to appreciate this quotation one should see Peri- 
tJiemis go about his business, and piratical Anax rush up. It 
