CHAP. XVII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 305 



I will tell you, scholar ! several countries have se- 

 veral kinds of cadis's, that, indeed differ, as much as 



" quite decayed, before the insect, in its state immediately succeeding 

 " the egg, lodged itself. Advanced to an aurelia which is generally in 

 " April, or the beginning of May it leaves its case, and last covering, 

 " a sort of thin skin resembling a fish's bladder, (and this is likewise the 

 " method of the whole genus, as far as I could ever observe,) and imme- 

 " diately paddles upon the top of the water with its many legs. It 

 " seldom flies, though it has four wings : and of these wings it is to be 

 " observed, that, in the infant-state of the insect, viz. for a week or 

 " longer, they are shorter than the body, but afterwards they grow to 

 " be full as long or longer. This is usually called, by sportsmen, the 

 " stone-fly; in Wales they name it the water-cricket, the size and co- 

 " lour being like that insect." 



As to the (ock-spur, Bowlker expressly says, in his Art of Angling p. 70, 

 that it produces the May-fly, or yellow cadew ; which 1 have ever un- 

 derstood to be the green-drake. 



That which Walton calls the stra?u-ivor>n, or ruff-coat- though, by the 

 way, he certainly errs in making these terms synonymous, as will hereafter 

 be made to appear and which is described in Ray's Metbodus Insectorum, 

 p. 12. is, I take it, the most common of any, and is found in the river 

 Colne, near Uxbridge ; the New River, near London; the Wandle, which 

 runs through Carshalton, in Surrey ; and in most other rivers. Two of 

 this species of insects, drawn from nature, are given, Plate XIII. Fig. 4. 

 and 5 ; and Fig. 6. is the appearance of the cadis when pulled out of its 

 case. As to the straw-worm, I am assured, by my friend above-men- 

 tioned, that it produces many and various flies ; namely, that which is 

 called, about London, the withy-fly, ash-coloured duns, of several 

 shapes and dimensions, as also light and dark browns, all of them affording 

 great diversion in Northern streams. 



It now remains, to speak of the ruff-coat ; which seems to answer so 

 nearly to the description which Walton has given of the cock-spur ; viz. 

 " that the case, or house, in which it dwells, is made of small husks, 

 " and gravel and slime most curiously ;" that there is no accounting for 

 his making the term synonymous with that of the straw-worm, which it 

 does not in the least resemble : And, yet, that the ruff-coat and the cock- 

 spur produce different flies, notwithstanding their seeming resemblance, 

 must be taken for granted, unless we will reject Bowlker's authority ; 

 when he says the cock-spur produces the May-fly, or yellow cadew ; 

 which, I own, I see no reason to do. 



But, that I may not mislead the reader, I must inform him, That 

 I take the ruff-coat to be a species of cadis inclosed in a husk about an 

 inch long, surrounded by bits of stone, flints, bits of tile, &c. very near 

 equal, in their sizes ; and most curiously compacted together, like 

 mosaic. 



In the month of May, 1759, I took one of the insects last above 

 described ; which had been found in the river Wandle, in Surrey ; and 

 put it into a small box, with sand at the bottom ; and wetted it five or six 

 times a day, for five days ; at the end whereof, to my great amazement, 

 it produced a lovely large fly nearly of the shape of, but less than a com- 

 mon white butterfly with two pair of cloak wings, and of a light cin- 

 namon colour j the figure of the husk, and also of the fly, in two position*, 



S 



