It does nothing unpleasant but bite fingers, and it never goes out of
its way to do that.

If we let it alone, it always lets us alone.

It is our good friend because it catches mosquitoes. For this reason it
is sometimes called mosquito hawk.

We should never kill a dragon fly.

Sometimes it is called a spindle, I suppose because it is long and
slender like a spindle.

Down South the colored people believe the dragon fly brings dead snakes
to life, and they call it snake doctor.

In some places it is called snake feeder.

But it has nothing to do with snakes, dead or alive.

The French have given it a pretty name, _demoiselle_, or damsel fly, and
that is quite deserved, for the dragon fly is a graceful little
creature, as pretty as pretty can be.

[Illustration]

See, sticking out of the front of its head are two little feelers, or
antennæ, as we must call them.

They are very short, but it does not need long ones.