THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. Pal Me | 
three years since on some stream a hundred miles 
away, is quite unlike the brood which is out to-day 
on one’s own river. For not only do most of these 
flies vary in colour in different soils and climates, 
but many of them change their hue during life; 
the Ephemere, especially, have a habit of throwing 
off the whole of their skins (even, marvellously 
enough, to the skin of the eyes and wings, and the 
delicate “whisks” at their tail), and appearing in 
an utterly new garb after ten minutes’ rest, to the 
discomfiture of the astonished angler. 
The natural history of these flies, I understand 
from Mr. Stainton (one of our most distinguished 
entomologists), has not yet been worked out, at 
least for England. The only attempt, I believe, 
in that direction is one made by a charming book, 
“The Fly-fisher’s Entomology,” which should be 
in every good angler’s library; but why should not 
a few fishermen combine to work out the subject 
for themselves, and study for the interests both of 
science and their own sport, “The Wonders of the 
Bank?” The work, petty as it may seem, is much 
P 2 
