THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 89 



can then be lifted without having recourse to a boat. Night 

 lines should not be allowed in a trout stream, otherwise 

 many a good trout falls a victim. 



Eel SpeaPS are implements used for capturing eels as 

 they lie buried in the mud. They are usually four or five- 

 pronged flat steel forks with jagged edges, distance between 

 prongs about three-quarters of an inch, attached by a 

 socket to a smooth light pine handle or shaft from eight to- 

 twelve feet long. The spear is driven down with some 

 force into the mud, and if it comes in contact with an 

 eel it jams it between the prongs. The sport, which is 

 fatiguing, is generally carried on from a boat, at the mouth 

 of sluggish rivers as they enter the sea and in harbours 

 containing brackish water. 



is the name given to certain insects whose 

 existence as perfect flies lasts, in some sorts, only a few 

 hours, and very seldom more than a day. They are 

 distinguished by the smallness of the hinder wings, have 

 only a very rudimentary style of mouth, require no food, 

 and are possessed of slender filaments attached to the 

 lower end of the body. The eggs hatch and pass into 

 larvae, which remain for two years in the water. They 

 make for themselves burrows in the mud of the stream 

 or pond. At the end of two years they rise to the 

 surface, casting off an outer skin which liberates the wings, 

 and the pupae fly to some stick or obstacle, to which they 

 attach themselves, and by their own exertions and the heat 

 of the sun cause a second skin to burst, and the fly now 

 exhibits its brightest colour, and takes to flight. They breed, 

 drop their eggs on the w r ater, and die. The ephemera 

 vulgata, or green drake, is to be found in profusion in a few 



