THE MAY-FLY. 191 



finds these larvae^ to which he gives the not inap- 

 propriate denomination of Water Crickets, as well 

 adapted for his purposes as the perfect insects. 



In this respect^ however, the Stone-flies must yield 

 the palm to the well-known May-fly {Ephemera vul- 

 gata), so called from its making its first appearance 

 in May or the beginning of June, which, perhaps, 

 enjoys a higher reputation than any other insect as a 

 surface-bait for trout, and suffers a corresponding 

 amount of martyrdom. It is rather a large fly, with 

 a soft slender body of about an inch long, and four 

 transparent brownish wings, of which the hinder pair 

 are very much smaller than their fellows ; the abdo- 

 men is terminated by three long jointed filaments, 

 which exceed the body of the insect in length, but 

 which, unlike those of the Stone- fly, are not balanced 

 at the other extremity by the antennae, which are 

 here reduced into a pair of very short bristle- shaped 

 organs. The colour of the body is a dull yellow, 

 with the head, the upper part of the thorax, and a 

 line down each side of the abdomen black ; the wings 

 are traversed by numerous brown veins, which are 

 united at short intervals by delicate veinlets, so that 

 the greater part of the wing is as it were covered 

 with a delicate brown network of square meshes. 



In its preparatory states this insect lives in the 

 water, frequenting both ponds and rivers, in the 

 banks of which the larva forms a little burrow for its 

 residence, consisting of a double tube communicating 

 internally, but opening by two orifices to the water, 

 so that the inhabitant can enter and quit his narrow 

 domicile (which, however, he does not appear to do 



