A Flight of Dragon-flies.
I knew a man who called these insects Air-Jewels. That was because they are almost always on the wing, and their eyes and bodies flash and shine like precious gems.
I have known silly people to start and scream when one of these dragon-flies came darting by. That was foolish; they might as well scream at a rose or a violet. There is no need of running away from one of them. The great trouble is that they are so swift and shy, you cannot easily catch one if you wish to examine it.
The dragon-flies are cousins of the termites, the may-flies, and the lace-wing flies. They have four large, fine, lace-like wings, divided into a great many spaces or meshes.
The two pairs of wings are nearly or quite equal in size. The head is large. The body is long and light. They are very active in their motions, and are very seldom at rest. They fly so swiftly that you can scarcely see their thin wings, but only the flash of their bright-colored bodies.
Dragon-flies like damp or wet places. You will find them above lakes and ponds. They fly over marshy places or by the edges of quiet streams.
Go out to some still, silver-like pond, where the tall trees stand in a ring about the water. The ferns, the tall yellow spikes of the St. John’s-wort, and the blue clubs of the arrow-plant make a wreath around the sandy margin. There you will see hundreds of gay dragon-flies darting up and down. They swing in the sunbeams, as if glad to be alive.
In their great beauty the dragon-flies are as pretty as the butterflies. Like them, they love the sunshine. They are the children of the summer time. The hotter the weather, the happier the dragon-flies seem to be.
Let us look for a little time at a dragon-fly. It belongs to the class of the ring-made creatures. Its body is made in rings, and its feet and legs are jointed. The body is very long and slim. Some kinds of dragon-flies have the body rather flat, but usually it is round, is slimmest in the middle, and thickens a little both at the tail and where it joins the breast.