168 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART 1. 



It is endless to tell you, what the curious searchers 

 into nature's productions have observed of these worms 



Royal Society by Mr. Peter Collinson, a London tradesman, well known 

 among botanists and collectors of natural curiosities in a Letter to their 

 secretary, which was read the 21st of January, 1744-5, and is printed in 

 the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1746, Numb. 481, page 329. 



The letter is miserably written ; and, in respect of the style, so un- 

 grammatical, and otherwise obscure, as to need such interpolations as are 

 here inserted to render it in any degree intelligible. 



The Author, walking by the side of the river at Winchester, May 26, 

 1744, was shewn the May-fly, [conjectured to be the musca tripilis men- 

 tioned in Moufet, Insect, Theatr. p. 64. and is questionless the grey drake,] 

 which (he says) lies, all the year but [except] a few days, in the bottom 

 or sides of the river, [we must suppose in its nymphatic state, like the ca- 

 dis, straw-worm, and other species of the libella ;~\ and rising, when ma- 

 ture, to the surface of the water, splits its case, and appears an animal ; [a 

 fly he must mean ;] having a slender body, and three long hairs at the tail, 

 and four blackish veined transparent shining wings, the under much the 

 smaller, and the upper having four black spots. He says, that having dis- 

 engaged itself from its exuvia, [*'. e. the case above-mentioned,] of which, 

 he adds, he saw innumerable floating on the water, the next business of 

 this creature is flying about to find a proper place to fix on, ns trees, rushes, 

 &C.; and that having fixed, it waits for another change, which in two or 

 three days is completed, and which he thus describes : 



" The first hint I received of this wonderful operation, [*. e. the second 

 " transformation,] I took from the appearance of their exuvia [he must 

 *' here mean their second exuvia hereafter mentioned] hanging on the 

 " hedges. Of these, [not the exwi<s but the flies,] I collected many, and 

 " putting them into boxes, could easily discover when they were ready to 

 " put off their old cloaths, though so lately put on." 



He says, he had the pleasure to shew his friends one of these creatures 

 that he held on his finger all the while it performed this great work ; and 

 that it was surprising to see the back part of the fly split open, and pro- 

 duce a new birth, [/. e . a new fly,] which left the case of the head, body, 

 wings, legs, and even the three-haired tail [of the old one] behind it. He 

 adds, that after it had reposed itself awhile, it flew abroad with great 

 briskness to seek a mate. 



After an enumeration of some particulars, which I choose to omit, he 

 says, he observed that when the females were impregnated, they left the 

 males, and betook themselves to the river ; where darting up and down, 

 they were seen to eject a cluster of eggs, which seemed a pale bluish 

 speck, like a small drop of milk, as they [the specks] were sinking to 

 the bottom 'of the river; and that, then, [when the flies had thus 

 ejected their eggs,] by the elasticity of their tails they sprung up, and 

 darted down again, continuing so to do, till having exhausted their stock 

 of eggs, together with their strength, they were able to rise no more, and 

 become an easy prey to the fish. This is the end of the females ; but of 

 the males he says, that they never resort to the waters, but after they 

 have done their office, drop down, languish, and die among the trees and 

 bushes. 



The conclusion of his letter, for I am tired of abridging it, 1 give in the 

 author's own words. * $ They appear at six o'clock in the evening. OB 



