Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/234

Rh this name;—the ordinary Japanese foot-measure, usually made of bamboo, being very narrow, and divided into only ten sun, or inches.

XXVII.—Beni-tombo. This is the name given to a beautiful pink dragon-fly, on account of its color. Beni is a kind of rouge, with which the Japanese girl tints her lips and checks on certain occasions.

XXVIII.—Mekura-tombo, "Blind Dragon-fly." The creature thus called is not blind at all; but it dashes its large body in so clumsy a way against objects in a room that it was at one time supposed to be sightless.

XXIX.—Ka-tombo, "Mosquito Dragon-fly,"—perhaps in the same sense as the American term "mosquito-hawk."

XXX.—Kuro-yama-tombo, "Black Mountain Dragon-fly,"—so called to distinguish it from the Yama-tombo, or "Mountain Dragon-fly," which is mostly green.

XXXI.—Ko-yama-tombo, "Little Mountain-Dragon-fly,"—the name of a small insect resembling the Yama-tombo in form and color.

XXXII.—Tsukete-dan. The word dan is a 註