LESSON XLIV.
THE DRAGON-FLY AND HIS COUSINS.
The dragon-fly eats almost every kind of insects which you have thus far read about. Beetles, spiders, flies, centipedes, fresh-water shrimps, and polliwogs are its food.
The dragon-fly is a larva for a year. It is a perfect dragon-fly only a part of one summer. You will find the most dragon-flies in July or August. When the frost comes, they die.
Dragon-flies are very strong; they are fond of chasing other insects. They seem to catch and tear them for the mere pleasure of pulling them to pieces. They also fight with each other, and Mr. and Mrs. Dragon-fly have some hard battles.
The dragon-fly does not have a long lip, or mask, set on a rod, as the larva had. They fly so swiftly that they do not need such help in getting food.
Few insects are so easy on the wing as this, and few have such beauty of wing. Yet I think, after all, that the chief beauty of the dragon-fly is in its eyes. These are like two great flaming jewels.
The eyes are beautiful, for this clear, glowing light in them; the body, for vivid color; the wings, for their lace-like texture. Each of the wings has adark spot on the front edge. Often, in flying, this spot and the line of bright color of the body, almost like a streak of fire, are all that can be seen of the insect.
The Dragon-fly and his Cousins.
The Dragon-fly and his Cousins.
There are several kinds of dragon-flies. These are different in color and size, and in the shape of their bodies. One, with a very long, thin, dark body, is called the Darning-Needle. One, with a thicker body, is called the Ringed-Club. Its body is largest at the tail end. This one is dressed in black and gold, and is large and strong.
A smaller kind of dragon-fly, which has no spots on the wings, is called the Little Lady. This isamong the prettiest of all; some of them are bright red; some a clear light blue. They look more like creatures in some dream about fairies, than like real live insects, for they flit here and there like streaks of gay-colored light, and you can scarcely see the wings on which they fly.
The dragon-fly has some very handsome relations. One of these is called the Lace-Wing. The head and body of the lace-wing are bright green, its wings are like white gauze; but its chief beauty is in its eyes. Some call it the Golden-Eye, because its eyes are like a drop of amber, or melted gold.
The veins in the wings of the lace-wing are very fine. As the light falls on them, they change in color, and look like pink, red, blue, green, or gold threads.
These lovely lace-wings do not like the bright light of the noon-day, as the dragon-fly does. They prefer to come out in the moonlight, or when the sun is setting.
The lace-wing is not a water lover, as the dragon-fly is. It lays its eggs on leaves, and every egg is held upon a little silken stem. The stem is much like the silk which the spider spins. These eggs are laid in groups.
When the young lace-wings come out of the eggs, they feed on the little aphis. You remember the aphis makes the honey that ants are so fond of.
In two weeks these larvæ change to pupæ. To do this the lace-wing larva spins a nice silk ball, in which it goes to bed for a nap while it is a pupa.
In this, you see, it is not at all like the young dragon-fly, which hunts and runs about while it is a pupa. The ball of the sleeping lace-wing is about the size and shape of a wild pea, or vetch seed.
The lace-wings are short lived. One summer makes a lifetime for them. In a summer they grow from infancy to age, make all their changes, and live out their time as complete insects.
When the lace-wing is dead, it loses all its fine colors in a very few hours.