EPHEMERAE. 215 



four wings, two husky-like shells above, and 

 two slender and finer ones below, are bred 

 from eggs, which they deposit in the ground, 

 or in the excrement of animals, which, pro- 

 ducing larvae in the usual way, are converted 

 into beetles, and these larvae themselves are 

 good bait for fish. The brown beetle, or 

 cockchafFer, the fern fly, and the grey beetle, 

 which are abundant in the meadows in the 

 summer, are often blown into the water, and 

 are the most common insects of this kind 

 eaten by fishes. Whether the ditisci and 

 hydrophili, the water beetles, are ever eaten 

 by trout I know not, but it is most probable. 

 These singular animals are most usually 

 found in stagnant waters; fitted for flying, 

 swimming, diving, and walking, they are 

 omnivorous, and usually fly from pool to 

 pool in the evening. They deposit their 

 eggs in the water, where their larvae live, 

 but to undergo transmutation into the beetle 

 return to the land. But there is hardly any 

 insect that flies, including the wasp, the 

 hornet, the bee, and the butterfly, that does 

 not become at some time the prey of fishes; 



