io2 ROD AND RIVER 



the former actually live but for so short a period 

 as one day is not really the case, for as a matter 

 of fact they exist for some three or four days, 

 unless they are laid low by over-severe weather, 

 or fall a prey to bird or fish. 



For a description of the two, I can surely do 

 no better than quote the words of the Rev. J. G. 

 Wood in his interesting work ' Homes without 

 Hands,' and I feel that I should otherwise utterly 

 fail to express myself as I could wish ; and though 

 I dislike quotations as being frequently weari- 

 some to the reader, no one could ever fail to be 

 charmed with his writings, nor could I quote 

 a better authority. It was my good fortune as 

 a boy to know him, and I well remember his 

 showing me the blocks which he was then pre- 

 paring for the illustrations of his well-known 

 work on Natural History. 



As regards the Ephemera he writes : 



' . . . The greater number of insects are wholly 

 or entirely burrowers at some period of their 

 existence. It frequently happens that the very 

 insects which we most admire, which are decorated 

 with the most brilliant colours, and which soar 

 on the most ethereal wings, have passed the 

 greater portion of their lives beneath the surface 

 of the earth. 



1 Take, for example, the well-known mayfly, 

 or ephemera, so called because its existence was 



