Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/405

Rh tended to mitigate the severity of early Athenian law. Before his time all cases of homicide were tried by the Areopagus, and we are justified in inferring that death was the universal penalty. To Draco is generally attributed the establishment of the &amp;lt;crai, a body of fifty-one elders, who sat in four different courts, one for cases of accidental homicide, a second for justifiable homicide, a third for cases where another homicide had been committed abroad by a prisoner who had been banished by one of the above-named courts, and a fourth for cases of deodand. Such an insti tution is of itself enough to explode the traditional concep tion of Draco, and we may now proceed to discuss the true character of his legislation. At Athens, as at Home, the kings were the depositaries and administrators of law. With the extinction of the regal power this prerogative passed into the hands of the aristocracy as represented by the archons. It was in the nature of things that such a monopoly should be abused. The remedy for this abuse which the commons sought was a published code of laws. It was attained at Home by the law of the Twelve Tables, and at Athens by the code of Draco, In both cases the promulgated law was merely an enunciation of existing customs. Such was the work of Draco. Of his life we know absolutely nothing with the exception of a most improbable story related by Suiclas. In Suidas s Lexicon, under the word " Draco, " we are told that he composed his code in his old age, and was smothered to death in the theatre at ^Egina with the caps, chitons, and cloaks which were thrown at him by an enthusiastic audience. The only value of the story is that it may show the feelings with which he was regarded by the commons of his own day.  DRAGON (SpdKuv, sharp-sighted), the name given by the ancients to a fabulous monster represented by them as a huge winged lizard or serpent. They regarded it as the enemy of mankind, and its overthrow is made to figure among the greatest exploits of the gods and heroes of heathen mythology. A dragon watched the garden of the Hespericles, and its destruction formed one of the seven labours of Hercules. Its existence does not seem to have been called in question by the older naturalists, figures of the dragon appearing in the works of Gesner and Aldrovandi, and even specimens of the monster evidently formed artificially of portions of various animals having been ex hibited. The only creatures ever known to have existed, at all comparable to this imaginary monster, are the Ptero dactyls, remains of which are found in the Liassic and Oolitic formations. These were huge reptiles, provided with true wings somewhat resembling those of bats. The name &quot; dragon &quot; is now applied to a highly interesting, but very harmless, group of small flying lizards forming the genus Draco, belonging to the Agamidce, a family of Saurian Reptiles. They inhabit India and the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and 18 species of them are known. They are small creatures, measuring about 10 inches long, including the tail, which in some cases is more than half of the entire length. The head is small, and the throat is provided with three pouches which are spread out when they lie on the trunks of trees. They are, however, chiefly remarkable for the wing-like cutaneous processes with which their sides are provided, and which are extended and supported by ti;reatly elongated ribs. These form a sort of parachute by which the animals are enabled to glide from branch to branch, of the trees on which they reside, but, being altogether independent of the fore limbs, they cannot be regarded as true wings, nor do they enable the lizard to fly, but merely to make extensive leaps. When not in use they are folded by the side after the manner of a fan, and the el ragon can then walk or run with considerable agility. They also use their wing-like expansions in clasping the branches of trees, where they are fond of lying basking in the sun, and feeding on whatever insect may come in their way. When threatened with danger they are said to feign death.  DRAGON-FLY (German, Wasserjwngfer ; Swedish, Trollsldnda ; Danish, Guldsmed ; Dutch, Scherpstekende- vlieg; French, Demoiselle), the popular English name applied to the members of a remarkable group of insects which formed the genus Libellula of Linnaeus and the ancient authors. In some parts of the United States they appear to be known as &quot; Devil s Darning Needles,&quot; and in many parts of England are .termed &quot; Horse-stingers.&quot; It is almost needless to say that (excepting to other insects upon which they prey) they are perfectly inno cuous, though some of the larger species can inflict a momentarily painful bite with their powerful jaws. Their systematic position is at present contested and somewhat uncertain. By most of the older systematists they were placed as forming part of the heterogeneous order Neuroptera. Fabricius, however, elevated them to the rank of a distinct order, which he termed Odonata ; and what ever may be the difference of opinion amongst authors at the present day, that term is almost universally employed for the group. Erichson transferred all the groups of so- called Neuroptera with incomplete metamorphoses, hence including the dragon-flies, as a division of Orihcpttru, which he termed Pseudo-Neuroptera. Gerstacker more recently also retains them in the Orthoptera, terming those groups in which the earlier states are sub-aquatic Orthoptera amphibiotica. It is not necessary to enter into an examina tion here of the merits or demerits of those various systems, and it will suffice to say that all are agreed in maintaining the insects as forming a group marked by characters at once extraordinary and isolated in their nature. The group Odonata (using the term as a matter of con venience) is divided into three families, and each of these again into two sub-families. The families are the Afjri- onidce, JEschnidce, and Libellulidce, the first including the sub-families Calopterygina and Agrionina, the second Gomphina and JEscknina, and the third Cordidina and Libellulina. The structure of a dragon-fly being so very remark able, it is necessary to enter somewhat extensively into details. The head is comparatively small, and excavated posteriorly, connected very slightly with the prothorax, on which it turns almost as on a pivot. The eyes are, as a rule, enormous, often contiguous, and occupying nearly the whole of the upper surface of the head, but some times (Agrionidce and Gomphina) widely distant; occu pied by innumerable facets, which are often larger on the upper portion. In front of them is a portion termed the vertex, which sometimes (Libclhdidoe) forms a swollen vesicle, before which are placed the three very small ocelli, and on either side of which are inserted the antennre, which are smaller in proportion than in almost any other insects, consisting only of two short swollen basal joints and a 5 or 6-jointed bristle-like thread. The front of the head is vertical, and consists of a large, often dilated upper portion, which is commonly termed the nas-us, followed by a tranverse portion termed the rhinarium, and this again by the large labrum, which conceals the jaws and inner mouth parts. The lower lip, or labium, is attached to a very small chin piece (or mentum), and is generally very large, often (Agrionidce) divided almost to its base into two portions, or more frequently entire or nearly so ; on each side of it are two usually enormous hyper- trophiecl pieces, which form the " palpi," and which are often furnished at the tips with an articulated spine (or terminal joint), the whole structure serving to retain the prey. Considerable diversity of opinion exists 