THE MAYFLY. 151 



THE MAYFLY. 



OLD STYLE AND NEW STYLE SHAKESPEARE 



AND GILBERT WHITE THE MAYFLY ITS LIFE 



AND HISTORY MAYFLY FISHING. 



Now with religious awe, the farewell light 

 Blends with the solemn colouring of night ; 

 Soft o'er the surface creep those lustres pale, 

 Tracking the fitful motions of the gale. 



WORDSWORTH. 



IF telegraph operators ever give thought to 

 the meaning of messages that they read off 

 the wires, I have often wondered what they 

 think in London Offices of those which tell the 

 busy men of Lloyds or Lincoln's Inn that ' the 

 mayfly is up ' ; and which as a rule defer this 

 piece of news until the first two days of June. 

 Gilbert White, in his Naturalist's Calendar, 

 relating chiefly to the years near 1768, whfen he 

 noted the dates on which flowers opened, or 

 migratory birds arrived, gives " Angler's May 

 Fly (Ephemera Vulgata) June 3rd to I4th." 

 As the year 1768 happened to be somewhat 



