CHAPTER IX 
DRAGON-ELY STORMS. 
One of tlie most curious tilings I have encountered 
in my observations on animal life relates to a habit 
of the larger species of dragon-flies inhabiting the 
Pampas and Patagonia. Dragon-flies are abun- 
dant throughout tlie country wherever there is 
water. There are several species, all more or less 
brilliantly coloured. The kinds that excited rny won- 
der, from their habits, are twice as large as the com- 
mon wddely distributed insects, being three inches 
to four inches in length, and as a rule tbey are sober- 
coloured, although there is one species — the largest 
among them — entirely of a brilliant scarlet. This 
kind is, however, exceedingly rare. All the different 
kinds (of the large dragon-flies) when travelling 
associate together, and occasionally, in a flight 
composed of countless thousands, one of these 
brilliant-hued individuals will catch the eye, appear- 
ing as conspicuous among the others as a poppy or 
scarlet geranium growing alone in an otherwise 
flowerless field. The most common species — and 
in some cases the entire flight seems to be composed 
of this kind only — is the Hischna bonariensis Rami, 
the prevailing colour of which is pale blue. But 
the really wonderful thing about them all alike is^ 
