56 THE EPHEMEKID^S. 



voracious. The swallow which skims the pool, 

 and the trout which breaks its surface, immolate 

 thousands when in the very act of propagating 

 their kind and the latter, too, are not indifferent 

 to their future winged prey when in the state 

 of crawling grubs at the bottom of the water. 



The blue dun appears upon the water towards 

 the end of February, or earlier in mild weather, 

 and continues in a succession of species and 

 varieties throughout the season. After the blue 

 dun has changed its first-winged coating, in the 

 manner just described, it assumes a different 

 colour and is called the red spinner in which 

 state it lays its eggs. Its imitation in the dun 

 state, however, is most used by anglers par- 

 ticularly in the early part of the season. u The 

 term dun," observes Mr. Ronalds, " seems to have 

 been applied in a general sense to the different 

 species of ephemeridse in the first winged state 

 (except those of the largest size) another name 

 being added to designate each species as the 

 blue dun, yellow dun, &c. In like manner the 

 term spinner seems to have been applied as a 

 general name for the final or perfect state of the 

 same insect another name, also, being added to 

 distinguish each species, as the red spinner, the 

 great red spinner," &c. The latter is the meta- 



