THE ENTOMOLOGIST IN THE FOREST 93
species of Dragon-flies (Odonata) occur in the
forest and the adjacent water-meadows ; it falls
little short, indeed, as a locality for these noble
insects, of New Forest itself. Every one must
have noticed the common Plaictrum depressum
(condemned to totally unmerited obloquy by
reason of its rustic sobriquet " Horse-Stinger ") with
its bright cerulean body (in the male), as it hawks
for flies over the forest pools, or rests on some
outlying twig with its glistening wings outspread,
ready to dart away at the slightest movement. In
the ponds may be found the ugly larvae, ferocious,
but very deliberate in their movements; and high
and dry on the rushes are the exuviae (or " skin-
cases ") of the pupae, left by the Dragon-flies as
they exchanged their long sluggish aquatic life for
that of one of the freest denizens of the air :
To-day I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk : from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings : like gauze they grew ;
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
Another notable species in the forest is Libellula
quadrimaculata, a very beautiful insect which is
celebrated on the Continent for its migratory
propensities, hordes of many millions having been
observed in full flight. Epping Forest is one of
the few localities for the grand Anax formosus, the
largest European Dragon-fly, measuring nearly
three inches in length, and nearly four in expanse
of the wings. And a commoner species, but little
inferior in size, AEschna grandis, may frequently
be met with in the narrow glades in late summer,
flying with all the celerity and ease of a swift, and
moving as readily backwards as forwards. What
a pattern for the inventors of aeroplanes! The
lovely, but vicious, " Demoiselle" Dragon-flies,
Calopteryx virgo and C. splendens, are common on
the Lea and Roding. We can but mention the
group of the Caddis-flies (Phryganeidae) whose