THE EPHEMERHXE. 57 



morphosis of the much praised and far famed 

 March brown, or brown drake, as it is often 

 called, which is a large brown insect of great 

 beauty, and forms, if the inhabitant of another 

 element may be allowed to judge, a very tempting 

 and appetible morsel. It appears on the water 

 in the middle of March, and continues about 

 three weeks, and sometimes rather longer.* It 

 is only seen in warm days, when few duns are 

 to be found, and its imitation is used most suc- 

 cessfully in \vindy weather, upon the ranges or 

 deep parts of the river. In April a species of 

 pale lemon-coloured dun, with delicate gauze-like 

 wings, comes on; and towards the end of the 

 month is succeeded by a variety more decidedly 

 yellow, with wings of nearly the same colour as 

 the body. The spinners to which these duns 

 change are of lighter and darker red in pro- 

 portion to the yellow tint of their precursors. 

 As the season advances, the duns, in both their 

 winged stages, become gradually darker, and by the 

 middle of September they acquire the same hue 

 as on their first appearance in spring. A variety 



* When a fly is spoken of as remaining on the water for 

 a certain time, it must be remembered that not an indi- 

 vidual, but a species^ is meant a new generation being 

 hatched every day, and often every hour. 



