9 2 
Dragon-flies and Damsel-flies 
The family Cordulegasteridae includes only seven species of dragon-flies 
found in the United States, all belonging to one genus, Cordulegaster. They 
are large, with eyes barely touching on top of the head, without metallic 
body-colors, and with clear wings. The nymphs burrow into the sand or 
vegetable silt on the bottom of shallow places. Thus buried, with only 
the top of the eyes and tip of the abdomen showing, they remain motionless 
for a long time, if prey does not come near. “In a dish of sand on my table,” 
says Needham, “I have had a nymph remain without change of position 
for weeks, no food being offered it. Let any little insect walk or swim near 
the nymph’s head, and a hidden labium springs from the sand with a mighty 
sweep and clutches it.” The imagoes are strong flyers and have the habit 
of flying back and forth, as on a regular beat, over some small, clear stream. 
The family Gomphidae includes six genera, comprising about fifty species 
in our country. They are mostly large forms, clear-winged and with bodies 
striped with black and green or yellow. They are readily distinguished 
by the wide separation of the rather small eyes. The abdomen is stiff and 
spike-like. The eggs, held in a scanty envelope of gelatin, are deposited 
by the repeated descent of the flying female to the water of a clear pond 
or flowing stream, the tip of the abdomen first striking the surface. The 
gelatin dissolves and the eggs, scattering, sink to the bottom and become 
hidden in the silt. The nymphs are active burrowers, capturing their prey 
either on or beneath the surface of the bottom silt. The adults often alight 
on foliage, or on the surface of some log stretching across a stream, or on 
the bare soil of a path or roadway. They do not fly about in apparent 
sportiveness as the skimmers (Libellulidae, p. 95) do, nor, like the skim¬ 
mers, perch atop a slender twig. June is the best month in the East for 
these dragon-flies. The principal genus of the family is Gomphus, which 
includes one-third of all our Gomphidae. Of these Gomphus exilis is 
probably the most common one in the Northeastern States. Its head is pale 
green, thorax brownish with two oblique green bands on each side, and 
abdomen blackish brown with a basal green spot or band on the back 
of each segment. The nymphs transform at the very edge of the water 5 
seldom crawling more than an inch or two above it. Ha genius brevistylus 
is a large black-and-yellow species common in the East, South, and Middle 
West. The nymph has an unusually wide, flattened body. 
The iLschnidae include our largest, swiftest, and most voracious dragon¬ 
flies. Various species are flying through the whole season from early spring 
to late summer. Some roam far from water, being found over dry fields 
and roadways, and even in houses. Some forms fly until late in the even¬ 
ing, making life a burden for the mosquitoes gathering for their night’s 
singing and feasting. The eggs are thrust into the stems of aquatic plants, 
in floating timbers, in the wood of piers, etc., at or near the surface of the 
