TI 3 E DRAGON FLY, 
47 ° 
i'pond wuli the tranfient nature of their exiftence, and t{je 
numerous race they tranfmit to pofterity. 
The addreffes of the libellula to his female feem car- 
ried on in a rough and intrepid, bat efficacious manner, 
fie hovers about on the wing, till the objeft of his a- 
mours make her appearance ; he then watches an oppor- 
tunity of feizing her by the head with thofe pincers with 
which his tad is armed. It is thus that the raviffier 
travels through the air, till the female, yielding to fupe- 
xior ftrength, perhaps to inclination, forms her body into 
a circle, that terminates at the genitals of the male, and 
thus accomplilhes the great purpofe of nature. It is 
while thefe kind of rapes are perpetrating, that the libel— 
lulte are feen coupled in the air, exhibiting the form of a 
ring *. 
The female, when pregnant, retires to the fide of si 
ditch or pond, when, by the aififtance of a flick or reed, 
ffie creeps, or lowers herfelf down, by moving backwards, 
till the tip oi the tail is immerged about half an inch in 
the water ; (lie is then feen feized with a kind of trem- 
bling or ffiaking of the body, during which efforts ffie 
depofits a Angle egg in the water; afterwards lire immerges 
her tail a fcconcl and a third time, when the fame opera- 
tions are performed. The tail is withdrawn from the 
water, by contracting its annuli ; and by the preffure of 
thcl'e upon each other, the egg is gradually forced from 
the ovary to the extremity of the tail, from whence it is 
ultimately i'eparated, by ffiaking that part in the water. 
The eggs thus protruded by the libellula are of a white 
colour, and oblong form, refembling thofe produced by 
the vomitoria or common blow-fly. The caterpillar 
which 
* Sarbut’s Genc.ra Infediorycn, p. 20£» 
