39 



THE EPHEMERA, OR MAY-FLY. 



THIS beautiful insect, the delight of the trout fisher, is so 

 called from the Greek t^/yuepa, living for a day. The family 

 of Epliemiridce consist of several genera, the generic charac- 

 ters of which are taken from the number of wings, and the 

 setae, or hair-like appendages to the abdomen. These setae 

 are of great use to the little insect in steering its way through 

 the air whilst performing that beautifully undulating flight 

 which all must have observed. The Ephemerae have long, 

 soft, tapering bodies, terminating in three long setae, and four 

 wings placed nearly or quite perpendicularly. Their antennae 

 are very small and three-pointed. The setae are longer in the 

 male, which is also readily distinguished from the female by 

 longer fore-feet ; the colour of the male is much darker than 

 that of the female, being bronze or chocolate ; and the male is 

 also much smaller. The ovaries consist of two almond-shaped 

 organs, which occupy nearly the whole of the abdominal 

 cavity. The ova are unattached, and readily separate them- 

 selves in water. It is the possession of these ovaries that 

 makes the insects such fat delicacies for the hungry fish which 

 feed on them. The eggs, having been deposited in the water, 

 sink to the bottom, and change into a small larva, in which state 

 it is said to live for two or three years, under water or in wet 

 places, and then to change to the nympha. Both in its larval 

 and nyniphal condition the creature eats, and the intestinal 

 canal is found to contain numerous algae spores, small 

 Crustacea, rotifera, &c. 



The larvae and nymphae are often found in holes in the 

 river banks, and frequently also in the sand or mud at the 

 bottom of the water. The only difference between the larva 



