2
THE DRAGONFLIES OF EPPING FOREST.
a close superficial resemblance to A. pulchellum were taken at
one small pond. The U-shaped marking on the second abdo-
minal segment was connected by a slender black line with the
circlet behind. The base of the marking was thicker than in
typical puella, and its posterior margin was not so deeply exca-
vated. In a third specimen, taken at the same time and at the
same pond, the connection with the circlet behind was not com-
plete ; the circlet was crossed transversely by a short median
black line, which anteriorly nearly joined a backward process
from the U-shaped marking. Another male, with the connection
complete, was obtained at a different locality on July 15th. That
these specimens must be regarded as A. puella, and not as
A. pulchellum, is clear from the morphological characters which
separate the two species. It is interesting to compare this aber-
ration of puella in the direction of pulchellum, with the variation
of pulchellum towards puella described by Mr. W. J. Lucas in
1901 (Entom. xxxiv. 215). On July 1st we had an opportunity of
watching at close quarters a pair of A. puella ovipositing; the
female was evidently placing her eggs within the bark of the
floating twig upon which she was resting, while the male,
which held her per collum, poised himself on his wings in an
almost erect position. The species was not met with after
July 22nd.
(4) Ischnura elegans was first taken on June 3rd; it was
afterwards very abundant, especially at the end of July, and was
collected regularly until September 8th, the latest date which we
have yet recorded for the species. A female with the ground
colour of the thorax purple was obtained on June 10th. On July
15th we took a very curious female in cop. with a normal male.
The proximal two-thirds of segment eight were of a colour ap-
proaching to that seen in the same segment in var. infuscans
(dark orange-brown), but the distal third of the segment was
occupied by a dorsal black spot having a semicircular front
margin. Moreover, there was a thin line of blue at the anterior
margin of the segment, and a strong line of blue at the posterior
margin. The spots behind the eyes were bright blue, the stripes
on the thorax were dull blue, and the sides of the thorax bright
green. The smallest male of which we have any knowledge was
taken on July 22nd ; its measurements were 28 mm. in length,
and 31.5 mm. across the hind wings.
Var. infuscans was procured on July 1st and 15th, one only
on each occasion. In the first specimen, which was taken
in cop. with a typical male, segment eight was of so dark a
hue as to be indistinguishable, so far as colour was concerned,
from the other segments of the abdomen. Such a specimen
might, if seen alone, be easily mistaken for the female of
I. pumilio.
(5) Libellula depressa was, as in former years, found to be