64 THE SCIENCE OF DRY FLY FISHING. 



It should, therefore, strictly speaking, only be alluded 

 to as being in a larval condition until it becomes a sub- 

 imago, but for distinction the latter period of its larval 

 condition may be termed pupal. It is at about this latter 

 period that it begins to be of most interest to the fly 

 fisherman, and I have therefore, with the kind assistance 

 of Mr. Chas. O. Waterhouse of the South Kensington 

 Museum, been able in Plate XV., Figs. I and 2, to give two 

 characteristic views of its appearance just before the 

 sub-imago state. The beautiful illustrations on Plates XV. 

 and XVI. were drawn for me by Mr. Horace Knight of the 

 Natural History Museum. Fig. I, Plate XV. shows the pupal 

 stage of the larva of the May Fly, Ephemera vulgata, twice its 

 natural size. Fig. 2 represents the pupal stage of the larva of 

 the Cloeon rufulum, a fly resembling the Red Quill. The 

 larval period of the different Ephemeridae lasts from one 

 to two years. 



There are several varieties, corresponding to the several 

 kinds of Ephemeridse, of these larva, and in each the appearance 

 and the habits differ some crawl, some burrow, and others, 

 again, swim but in all the varieties their larval appearance 

 alters as they attain full size, and beneath the transparent 

 integument covering their bodies can be discerned the gradual 

 development of the wings, thorax, and legs, which will be 

 used after the metamorphosis to the flying condition. 



When the larvae are fully ready for this change, they 

 leave the haunts in which they have hitherto spent their 



