?HE DRAGON-FL?. 
4 % 
Genus I. — Lihellula. The Dragon-Fly. 
Of this tribe of large infe&s there are twenty-one dif- 
ferent fpecies remarkable by the formidable apparatus 
with which their mouths are armed. Their jaws are al- 
ways more than two in number, and fitted for gratifying 
that voracity by which the libclhilas are diftinguifhed. 
The antennas are lhorter than the thorax ; the wings are' 
always extended, and, in fome, meafure feveral inches 
from tip to tip. The male is diftinguifhed by a kind of 
hooked forceps, by which the extremity of the abdomen 
is terminated f . 
The dragon flies are univerfally known, from their 
large fize, and the frequency with which they every 
where appear. The organs of generation are differently 
fltuated in the male and female of this tribe : In the for- 
mer, they are placed upon the under fide of that part of 
the abdomen which lies between the inferior wings - r 
while, in the latter, they are found at the tip or end of 
the abdomen. The feafon of love in all infe&s, from the 
brevity of their lives, is neceffarily fliort, but it is bufily 
employed. It is only the large infefts, fuch as the libel- 
lulae, that are frequently feen celebrating the rites of 
Venus ; and among them the operation is performed with 
a frequency and difpatch that feems perfectly to cone- 
fgODd 
f iinosus Syft, Nat. Ord- IV, Gea. i. 
