THE EPHEMERA. 4-3 



whose wings at the same instant are unfolded, 

 and at the same time lift it into the air. Millions 

 and millions of aurelias rise in this manner to 

 the surface, and at once become flies, and fill 

 every quarter with their flutterings. But all 

 these sports are shortly to have an end, for as 

 the little strangers live but an" hour or two, the 

 whole swarm soon falls to the ground, and covers 

 the earth, like a deep snow, for several hundred 

 yards on every side of the river. Their numbers 

 are then incredible, and every object they touch 

 becomes fatal to them ; for they instantly die, if 

 they even hit against each other. 



At this time the males and females are very 

 differently employed. The males, quite inactive 

 and apparently without desires, seem only born 

 to die : no way like the males of other insects, 

 they neither follow the opposite sex, nor bear 

 any enmity to each other ; after fluttering for an 

 hour or two, they drop upon land, without seem- 

 ing to receive wings for scarcely any other pur- 

 pose but to satisfy an idle curiosity. It is other- 

 wise with the females, that are scarcely risen 

 from the surface of the water, and have dried 

 their wings, but they hasten to drop their eggs 

 back again. If they happen also to flutter upon 

 land, they deposit their burden in the place 

 where they drop. But then it may be demand- 

 ed, where and in what manner are these eggs 

 fecundated, as no copulation whatever appears 

 between the sexes in their transitory visits in air ? 

 Swammerdam is of opinion, that they are impreg- 

 nated in the manner of fish spawn, by the male, 



