MA Y-FL Y FISHING. 



THE true May- flies of the British angler belong to the order 

 Neuroptera, to the family Ephemerida^ and to the genus 

 Ephemera. In the majority of the colder and more rapid 

 English streams, such as the Test or Itchen, E. danica is the 

 predominant species, while in the more sluggish rivers or lakes 

 E. vulgafa is commonly found, and more rarely E. lineata. 

 These three the only English species may be recognised by 

 minute differences in size or colouring, slight variations in 

 neuration of wings, or in the markings of the thorax or abdo- 

 men, &c., all of which are no doubt of considerable value 

 to the scientific entomologist, as enabling him to separate the 

 species, but are of no practical use to the angler for the pur- 

 poses of his sport. When he finds in this country one of the 

 Ephemeridse of large size, with wings erect dotted with four or 

 five dark spots and tinged with a delicate shade of yellowish- 

 grey green, with body of a pale straw colour marked in the 

 lower segments with a few brown streaks, the thorax of a 

 deep brown-black with a pale sepia blotch in the middle of the 

 back, and the three setae of nearly equal length, and especially 

 if he finds this insect on the water at the end of May or 

 early portion of June, he may be certain that it is a speci- 

 men of the Green Drake, or subimago of one of the above- 

 named three species. Having once seen the subimago, he 

 will find no difficulty in recognising the same insect after the 

 further metamorphosis to the imago, Spent Gnat, or Black 

 Drake. 



Not only are the three species so closely allied and so 

 similar in appearance that, for all angling purposes, the imita- 

 tion of any one is quite near enough to serve as an imitation 



