*MA Y-FLIES. 65 



them, the air is not so filled as it was around me with Ephe- 

 merae ; scarcely had' I remained in one place a few minutes 

 when the step on which I stood was quite concealed with a 

 layer of them from two to four inches in depth. Near the 

 lowest step a surface of water of five or six feet dimensions 

 every way was entirely and thickly covered by them, and 

 what the current carried off was continually replaced. Many 

 times I was obliged to abandon my station, not being able to 

 bear the shower of Ephemerae, which, falling obliquely, struck 

 every part of my face, filling my eyes, mouth, and nostrils." 



The writer once witnessed a very similar scene in 

 England, when passing one morning in early summer, 

 a little after sunrise, along a path not a quarter a mile 

 in length on the bank of the Thames between Ted- 

 dington Lock and Kingston. The particular spot 

 alluded to is bounded by the wall of Sir Byam Mar- 

 tin's grounds, and in that short distance the face, hat, 

 and clothes were covered by the cast-off skins of 

 Ephemeridse. The myriads of insects in their full dress, 

 gaily disporting in the beams of the morning sun, 

 and the local associations of the neighbourhood, for- 

 cibly brought to the writer's recollection Pope's de- 

 scription of the sylphs in his inimitable Rape of the 

 Lock : 



" Some to the sun their insect wings unfold, 

 Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold ; 

 Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, 

 Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light ; 

 Loose to the wind their airy garments flew. 

 Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew, 

 F 



