THE MAYFLY. 153 



of Shakespeare and Gilbert White. All 

 Shakespeare's flowers and seasons seem described 

 as being ten days too early. Shakespeare's 

 month of April was really the period from about 

 April nth to May loth. His spring sounds 

 far more genial than ours does now. The 

 mayfly time then was from May i8th to May 

 28th instead of that given in the History of 

 Selborne. 



Similarly, Shakespeare's autumn and early 

 winter give us the opposite impression. They 

 sound more rigorous than nowadays. His 

 November began on November loth or nth, 

 and his Christmas Day on January 4th or 5th. 

 Many of the old weather proverbs, about April 

 showers, or hawthorn, become far more correct 

 than they appear to be when we consider that 

 dancing round the maypole, instead of taking 

 place on our May ist, was held ten days later. 

 The saying ' when the days begin to lengthen 

 et cet,' is true under either style, as the process 

 is not much -noticed until after mid January. 



THE MAYFLY. 



The following paragraphs are taken from 

 Chambers' Encyclopedia, as being useful and 

 descriptive. 



Ephemera (* day fly ' or May-fly), a genus of 

 well known insects which appear in vast numbers 

 on summer evenings from rivers, canals, and 

 ponds, and after a short merry life disappear 

 as suddenly as they came. The genus 

 Ephemera is type of the family Ephemeridce or 



