Volume 29, Plate XXVII / Entomology (Insects)

Libellula Quadrimaculata, L. Portia & Nemoptera Angulata

1. Libel­lula Quadri­maculata. Given as a British example of the genus, this dragonfly is not among the largest, scarcely equalling the common L. depressa, its general colour reddish brown with transparent wings each bearing a large brown patch at the base and a smaller one beyond the middle. Long thought rare, it has since been found not unfrequently in nearly all parts of the country, occurring near Edinburgh at Duddingston Loch and among the Pentland Hills.
2. Libel­lula Portia. This small and finely coloured dragonfly is a native of Sierra Leone, its thorax and abdomen entirely bright blue and its head black. The wings are dark brown anteriorly, the hinder part clear and transparent.
3. Nemoptera Angulata. This new Nemoptera, of the family Panorpidae, has a remarkable aspect owing to the extraordinary elongation and narrowness of its posterior wings, its name referring to the anterior wings being more acutely angular at the tips than in any other species. Closely allied to N. africana of Leach, it differs in the form of the wings, a black stigma, a spotted front margin of the forewings, and a brown posterior base; from the Cape of Good Hope.