LIFE AND DBA TH OF A MAY FL Y. 99 



thought he was drowned ; but presently the 

 stream landed him on the leaf of a water- 

 weed. 



I noticed that a yard before that floating 

 lifeboat was reached he showed renewed 

 energy, as though conscious that relief was 

 at hand, and he was to have another fight for 

 the bright and beautiful world he had as yet 

 only caught a glimpse of. Landed on the 

 leaf, he fluttered his wings, which soon dried 

 in the hot sun. At length he floated joyously 

 upward, singing, I am sure, as merrily as any 

 lark, if one could but have heard him. I know, 

 of course, that there are insects much smaller 

 than he the mosquito, for example, whose 

 piercing little song can make itself heard to 

 the terror of a regiment of soldiers and it 

 by no means follows because we cannot hear 

 it that the delicate, airy May Fly does not 

 possess an organ too refined to reach human 

 ears. But, alas ! if he was singing, his song 

 was soon cut short. Not ten yards had he 

 floated away down stream when an envious 

 sand-martin came dashing up, and his song 

 and his life were ended. Thus, ere sin could 

 touch or sorrow blight this young May Fly, 

 was his brief life closed in the crop of a sand- 

 martin ! 



May Flies, like men, seem to be born to 



