234 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



larvae are also endowed with legs, with which they swim or walk. The 

 pupa is not much different from the larva, except in the fact that the 

 wings may be perceived folded up and encasing the throat. Both the 

 larva and pupa form holes in the bottom and sides of the stream, and 

 creep under stones to escape the attention of their piscine enemies. I 

 believe that they remain in this state in some cases as long as two or 

 three years. When the time for transformation arrives the pupa rises to 

 the surface and becomes the green drake its pseud-imago state and 

 manages to settle on the stem of a rush or bough overhanging the water. 

 After a few seconds of sunshine, however, the thin pellicle which has 

 inclosed it splits up the centre, and the imago appears. 



The green drake, or pseud-imago, is often taken by fishermen for the 

 male, and the imago, or grey drake, for the female insect ; but, as I have 

 explained, this idea really has no foundation in truth. The green drake 

 is a beautiful creature, and its wings are fringed with a light down or 

 hair, which is one great distinguishing mark of its immaturity ; the 

 caudal filaments are also shorter. All the "duns" are of the ephemera, 

 and belong to the pseud-imago state, and the spinners so called are 

 of the imago condition. This is an important fact to be borne in mind. 

 Sometimes the ephemerae start into existence in countless myriads, and 

 the air is black with their number. I have been before now literally 

 covered with the cast of the pseud-imago garments of an assembling 

 multitude of these creatures. 



I may add that I have kept the larva for two years myself in a small 

 aquarium, and I found it was as voracious as any other aquatic insect 

 whatsoever, and even cannibalistic. 



The phryganidce forms a strange and beautiful section of animate 

 creation, and its history is specially fascinating in a study where every 

 creature shows wonder on wonder accumulated. The full-grown female 

 usually deposits her ova on the leaf of a tree be it alder, willow, or oak, 

 it little matters overhanging the water. Here they remain till hatched, 

 sustained during the period by a sort of natural gluten which fastens 

 them securely. When hatched, they are queer six-legged creatures, 

 which drop instantly off into the water and sink. With unerring skill 

 they then commence to gather round them, using a natural secretion, 

 pieces of stick, plants, pebbles, shells, often containing living inmates. 

 A kind of coil is thus obtained, the gluten assuming the form of a kind of 

 silk web, in which the shells, &c., are embedded. The larva is thus 

 secure from fishy enemies, or comparatively so, and seeks its food roam- 

 ing about with slow but restless activity. There are many interesting 

 points about the buildings of these subaqueous engineers, which I wish I 

 had space to mention here, but, as I have not, I may refer the reader 



