On a collection of dragonflies made by members of the Skeat expedition in the Malay peninsula in 1899-1900. [Pt. I] / by F.F. Laidlaw.
- Frank Fortescue Laidlaw
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: In copyright
Credit: On a collection of dragonflies made by members of the Skeat expedition in the Malay peninsula in 1899-1900. [Pt. I] / by F.F. Laidlaw. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
4/36 page 64
![hapta torricla, Orthetrum priiinosum, and Calotheinis hiappendi- culata. Others for the most part were caught playing round stagnant water. Rapidly running streams are invariably avoided except by Tyriohapta torrida. On the other hand, the ^schnid^ are mostly found in the forests, any small stagnant pool is an excellent locality; the species of Gynacantha and Anax guttatus are sometimes seen in the open. The large species of the Gomphinm are also forest insects. Thus my specimen of Sieholdius grandis was taken in the same locality (a small muddy pool frequented by wild pig) with two males of AmqyJiiceschna ainpla\ this locality also yielded Pericnemis stictica and Lestes ridleyi. Another forest-haunting group is found amongst the Calo- PTERYGiDiE. Vestcdis anioina never occurs in the open, nor over rapidly running water ; probably Echo and Glimacohasis have similar habits ; they resemble Vestcdis ammna so closely that they may perhaps be often mistaken for this very common species. The other Ccdopterygince are only to be found playing over rapidly running streams and rivers, and their beautiful iridescent wings add greatly to the charms of a sun-lit river-scene. Rhinocyphct fenestrella sometimes forsakes the main stream for the shady rivulets that wander through the forest, but most of the species prefer the wider waters. The lovely Neurohctsis chinensis wanders farther down the river perhaps than other species, but I have never seen it near the mouth of a river, or in fact after the stream had become sluggish and polluted. Of the Agrionince numerous species are found in rice-swamps : few make their home in the forests, amongst these are Pericnemis stictica and Lestes ridleyi referred to above, as well as one or two species of Psilocnemis, AmpMlestes^ and a few of the Protoneurous group. In many genera the females are exceedingly rare; this is especially the case with the Calopteiygine genera Euphcea and Dysphcea. It has been suggesterl that the soberly coloured females do not attract the notice of collectors to the same extent as the males, and that hence they ai*e rarely found in collections ; but I can assert positively that in their own haunts the females are exceedingly rare; to the best of my belief, I saw only one, a female of Euphcea ochracea^ which I secured. Family LIBELLULID^. Subfamily Libellulin^. (Species marked witli an asterisk are not represented in onr Collection.) ^Zyxomma petiolatum Ramb. Zyxomma petiolatum, Kirby, Cat. Odonata, p. 35. East Indies. Singapore {Pulley'). [2]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22406566_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
