PISCATORIAL ENTOMOLOGY. 105 



ent weather in July produces the July Dun, in which 

 the old and more general olive shade is again visible, 

 commingling with pale yellow. And now, with the de- 

 clining months, the fish and fishermen are treated to a 

 repetition of the various shades of the spring, though 

 graduating in the contrary direction, i. e., growing 

 darker as the months pass, instead of lighter. Thus, in 

 August we have the exact shades of May, and in Sep- 

 tember those of April the state of the weather and the 

 water being similar to that in the corresponding earlier 

 months of the year until we again arrive at the Dull 

 Blue Dun of February in November. 



The whole of the foregoing are the natural progeny of 

 the common red spinner. All the Duns, therefore, that 

 live to maturity become spinners; they are, in conse- 

 quence, very numerous. In the warmer months this fly 

 becomes lighter in shade, assuming a golden tint on the 

 body, when it is designated the Golden, instead of the 

 Red Spinner.* The limited period usually devoted to 

 the study of the native water flies, which are designed 

 for the sustenance of non-migratory fish, both upon the 

 surface and in the bed of the rivers, has led to erroneous 

 and inaccurate inferences. During an unusually back- 

 ward and dull season one particular shade of fly will be 

 numerous, often for many weeks, and occasionally even 

 months ; and as no two or three successive years are 

 likely to be identical in this respect, it is essential that 

 observations be assiduously carried on over an extended 

 period, or misconceptions will be the inevitable result. 

 Insects have been described in their first or imperfect 

 stage minutely, whilst the greater part of their existence 

 as flies and perfect insects has been ignored altogether. 

 Other species have been honored by a notice in their 

 decrepit old age, when they are described as beings of a 



*The Red Spinner is a favorite fly on some of our waters. 



