604 OCEAN, LAKE, AND RIVER. 



foulness, and the whole, cleaned at the appointed time, has the 

 appearance of a miniature resurrection. Not only is the earth 

 cleansed, but the water is puritied. The flora that spread out 

 their arms expands and grows in rich luxuriance beneath the 

 water without fear of drought or a sigh for rain, all kept clean and 

 pure by the infinite hosts of species that sport in the water, whose 

 nourishment is decaying vegetation and disagreeable substances 

 formed by the decomposing action of the water. The majority of 

 aquatic species, and those species that appear in the greatest 

 numbers are these indirect vegetarians. I am aware that this is 

 a strong statement, and one never before advanced. It is the 

 result of years of patient watching and studying. Of the class of 

 insects whose larvs feed in this manner there are, in the section 

 Nenroptera, the Ep/ieinera, all of the Phryganina that live in 

 cases, several species of lialina. Many species, but divided among 

 different families in the section diptera. One of these, Pisces sirmc- 

 liner, received its fishy name in honor of the commotion it created 

 among pisciculturists, a few years since. It figured in Fish Com- 

 missioners' reports, etc., as a" web worm " and " destroyer of young 

 trout." Larvae are ravenous feeders. A stream must be rich in 

 confervse to have a large insect fauna. It would be well sometimes 

 before stocking streams with fish to stock them first with insect 

 food. Not that insects are the only fish food, but directly and 

 indirectly they form the main supply at all seasons, and almost the 

 exclusive food when the Ganimarics and other Crustacea are pass- 

 ing through the first stages of life. Insects are liable to be exter- 

 minated in streams, or new species take the place of the old ones ; 

 floods and freshets sweep the flora away. Mineral matter is ob- 

 noxious ; or their parasites and enemies may gain the ascendancy; 

 New species may supplant the old inhabitants, not always " the 

 survival of the fittest," but the survival of those whose ene- 

 mies and parasites are held in check from a combination of 

 circumstances. 



" In an insect's life there are three familiar forms, larvs, pupa, 

 and imago. Larvae are frequently used as bait, pushed squirming, 

 wriggling, protesting on the bare hook. Of these so martyred, 

 there are Pli>yganida: larvae barbarously drawn from their castles, 

 known as caddis bait to the destroyer, grubs, larva; of beetles, 

 maggots, or gintles, larvee of the diptera, caterpillars, larvae of 

 moths. The only pupa so sacrificed belongs to the family of Li- 

 alis, known by the suggestive appellation of helgramite. Of the 

 adult insects or imagines, the LocustaricE, or grasshoppers, are a 

 common bait. The imitations used are of four forms. The fly 

 proper, with clear, smooth body, feet, wings with or without caudal 

 setai. Palmers, body covered with hairs bristling in all directions 

 from one extremity to the other. The hackled fly, body like the 

 palmer with wings and sometimes caudal setae. The hackle, body 



