NEUROPTERA. 
51 
colour, may be seen in the summer and autumn months, 
flying about near ponds, rivers, or canals, their little 
forms glittering in the sunshine they revel in, or alight¬ 
ing on the surface of water weeds to deposit their eggs 
to their stalks/' 
Fig. 8 will be recognised by my readers as one of the 
largest of our Dragon-flies; it is the Gordulegaster 
annulatus of Entomologists; it is a fine and handsome 
species, and has its body marked with golden-yellow 
stripes. 
Dragon-flies with flat and short bodies (Libellula 
depressed) may often be seen hawking in pursuit of flies 
and moths, upon which these insects feed; these are of 
a dull-blue and golden-brown colour. Most Dragon-flies 
have a dark mark on each wing near the tip ; in Calop - 
teryx virgo it is absent. This spot is called the stigma. 
There is a popular belief in this country that Dragon¬ 
flies sting horses, hence these insects are called Horse- 
stingers ; it is needless to observe that neither Dragon¬ 
flies nor any other Neuropterous insects possess a sting; 
nor can they bite through the tough skin of a horse. It 
is possible that these large and strong flying insects 
coming suddenly within a few feet of a nervous horse’s 
head would startle and alarm him, leaving the impression 
on the oart of the uninstructed in Entomological matters 
that the horse had been literally stung. Last year I 
* I can corroborate Mr. Patterson’s account to Prof. Westwood, 
that these female Agrions occasionally descend to a considerable 
depth below the surface. On one occasion I noticed one of these 
little Agrions walk quietly down the stem of a water weed to the 
depth of a foot; she then stopped ; her motive was doubtless 
to attach her eggs. 
