DEAGON-FLIES. 
251 
large as a pea will occupy a minute and a half or 
more before it has all disappeared. But a morsel of 
such a size is not held with one claw, but with the 
jaws, and nibbled away, I think it likely that they 
catch and devour small animals, as fishes or reptiles. 
I disabled a small Anolis to prevent its escape, and 
threw it near to a Flat-crab : the latter leaped 
fiercely upon it, and seized it with both claws, one 
holding it by the head, and the other by the loins. 
It then began to munch the fore-foot with a per- 
ceptible crackling of the bones, eating up towards 
the shoulder. As if fearful of losing its prey, how- 
ever, it presently retired with it under the root of a 
tree, and I unfortunately lost sight of it. When two 
Flat-crabs approach each other, they usually mani- 
fest distrust and timidity, retreating or turning aside : 
but sometimes they cautiously feel each other by 
stretching out the feet, not the claws. In this action, 
again, they strongly remind one of Spiders. 
A SWARM OF DRAGON-FLIES. 
October Sth, — What appeared to me an unusual 
trait in the economy of Dragon-flies occurred to my 
notice. In the afternoon, I observed, over the stream 
that runs through Bluefields, and near the point 
where it plunges over the limestone rock in a little 
cascade, a swarm of these insects in [the air, about 
twenty feet from the level of the ground. They 
floated and danced much in the manner of gnats, 
which they resembled also in the immense numbers 
which were associated ; a most unusual circumstance, 
for I conjectured that there were not fewer than 
