Dragonflies dart through swarms of mosquitoes

TCD MS 10515 folio 99 verso

TCD MS 10515 folio 99 verso

varieties of larvae or possibly in the open sand one is seen pouncing on an unwary diptera. And round about the nest is the pit of the ant-lion in which the ants are themselves engulfed. We see in the air as in the sands, the same incessant war. Small dragonflies dart through swarms of mosquitoes seizing them on the wing, and large yellow-banded dragonflies devour their smaller brethren. Add to these humbler creatures the insectivorous birds of the air, the reptiles of the sand and some dim conception may be gleamed of the desert battle for existence. This is but a glimmer of what we see; how vastly more complex is what we do not see? We observe but the faintest glimpse of the oscillating balance of life against life; a balance which sways un-