20 
NATURE STUDY. 
ly among themselves in size, in pattern of color, in struc¬ 
ture and in habits, have no distinctive common names. It 
has been thought to be enough to fling some term of dread 
or disrespect at the group as a whole, and then shun the 
individuals. The scientist 0 , whose tender mercies in the 
matter of nomenclature are often cruel, have dealt more 
gently than is their wont with the Dragonflies, and such 
names as Eibellula pulchella, Plathemis trimaculata and 
Nannothemis bella are not disagreeable, although unfamil¬ 
iar to most English ears. Some day, when the study of 
nature has brought us to a better understanding of these 
active creatures and to a fuller appreciation of their service 
in the destruction of mosquitoes and other insect pests, we 
may come to think it worth while to give them some atten¬ 
tion. We may then expect books with carefully prepared 
plates showing their grace of form and wealth of color, 
making it easy to recognize them at rest or on the wing, 
and to call them by their names, as has already been done 
by the birds and many of the butterflies. For the present, 
however, when telling about them in popular language, we 
may speak of them only as Dragonflies, leaving the some¬ 
what forbidding scientific names to the few who have taken 
the trouble to learn them. 
Away up in New Hampshire there is a brook, which, as 
often happens, is loved most by those who know it best. 
For part of its course it flows at the base of a bluff which 
marks the end of the work of the waters in the far-off gla¬ 
cial time, when they laid down the great sand plain that 
stretches away to the northward. The bluff is covered 
with pines, and below, at the foot of a stretch of rapids, 
are quiet pools. Along the banks the willows blossom in 
the springtime and lead the long procession of the flowers. 
On the bluff, in their season, nod the Twin-flower and the 
Eady’s-slipper, while below Verbena hastata mingles in pro¬ 
fusion with the Snap-dragon and the Joe-pye weed, the lat- 
