4-08 I \SECT A. 



The abdomen is terminated by five appendages, but one of them is truncated 

 at the end. 



JE. grandis. One of the largest species of this family, being nearly two 

 inches and a half (French) in' length; fulvous brown; two yellow lines on 

 each side of the thorax ; abdomen spotted with green or yellowish ; wings 

 iridescent. It darts with amazing rapidity over meadows, and along the 

 shores of rivers, &e., pursuing flies in the manner of the swallow. 



AGRION, Fubricius. 



Where the wings are elevated perpendicularly when at rest, the head is 

 transversal, and the eyes are distant. 



The other Subulicornes have an entirely membranous or very soft mouth, 

 composed of parts that are rather indistinct. Their tarsi consist of five joints ; 

 their inferior wings are much smaller than the superior, or even wanting, and 

 their abdomen is terminated by two or three setae. 



They form the genus 



EPHEMERA, Linnaeus, 



So called from their short term of life, in their perfect state. Their body is 

 extremely soft, long, tapering, and terminated posteriorly by two or three long 

 and articulated setae. The antenna? are very small and composed of three 

 joints, the last of which is very long, and in the form of a conical thread. The 

 wings of those insects are always placed perpendicularly, or slightly inclined 

 posteriorly, like those of an Agrion. 



The Ephemera usually appear at sun-set, in fine weather, in summer and 

 autumn, along the banks of rivers, lakes, &c., and sometimes in such innume- 

 rable hosts that after their death the surface of the ground is thickly covered 

 with their bodies ; in certain districts cart-loads of them are collected for 

 manure. The descent of a particular species the albipennis remarkable for 

 the shortness of its wings, recals to our minds a heavy fall of snow. 



These insects (our May flies) collect in flocks in the air, flitting about and 

 balancing themselves in the manner of the Tipulae, with the terminal filaments 

 of their tail divergent. 



The continuation of their species is the only function these animals have to 

 fulfil, for they take no nourishment, and frequently die on the day of their 

 metamorphosis, or even within a few hours after that event. Those which fall 

 into the water become food for fishes, and are styled manna by fishermen. 



If however we trace them back to that period in which they existed as larva-, 

 we find their career to be much longer, extending from two to three years. In 

 this state, as well as that of semi-nymphs, they live in water, frequently con- 

 cealed, at least during the day, in the mud or under stones, sometimes in hori- 

 zontal holes divided interiorly into two united canals, each with its proper 

 opening. These habitations are always excavated in clay, bathed by water, 

 which occupies its cavities : it is even supposed that the larvae feed on this 

 earth. 



