green, and yellow,
and the wings give off the most beautiful iridescent and metallic
reflections.

During July and August the various species of Libellula and its allies
most abound. The eggs are attached loosely in bunches to the stems of
rushes and other water-plants. In laying them, the Dragon fly, according
to Mr. P. R. Uhler's observations, "alights upon water-plants, and,
pushing the end of her body below the surface of the water, glues a
bunch of eggs to the submerged stem or leaf. Libellula auripennis I have
often seen laying eggs, and I think I was not deceived in my observation
that she dropped a bunch of eggs into the open ditch while balancing
herself just a little way above the surface of the water. I have, also,
seen her settled upon the reeds in brackish water with her abdomen
submerged in part, and there attaching a cluster of eggs. I feel pretty
sure that L. auripennis does not always deposit the whole of her eggs at
one time, as I have seen her attach a cluster of not more than a dozen
small yellow eggs. There must be more than one hundred eggs in one of
the large bunches. The eggs of some of the Agrions are bright
apple-green, but I cannot be sure that I have ever seen them in the very
act of oviposition. They have curious habits of settling upon leaves and
grass growing in the water, and often allow their abdomens to fall below
the surface of the water; sometimes they fly against the surface, but I
never saw what I could assert to be the projecting of the eggs from the
body upon plants or into the water. The English entomologists assert
that the female Agrion goes below the surface to a depth of several
inches to deposit eggs upon the submerged stems of plants." The Agrions,
however, according to Lucaze Duthiers, a French anatomist, make, with
the ovipositor, a little notch in the plant upon which they lay their
eggs.

[Illustration: 127. Under side of head of Diplax, with the labium or
mask fully extended. _x_, _x_', _x_''the three subdivisions of the
labium. _y_, the maxillae or second pair of jaws.]

These eggs soon hatch, probably during the heat of summer. The larva is
very active in its habits, being provided with six legs, attached to the
thorax, on the back of which are the little wing-pads, or rudimentary
wings. The large head is provided with enormous eyes, while a pair of
simple, minute eyelets (ocelli) are placed near the origin of the small
bristle-like feelers, or antennae. Seen fro