110 ON CREEPERS. 



state for two or three months or until Nature has fini- 

 shed her work and the fly is matured. The creeper 

 then leaves its fixed dwelling and rises to the surface 

 of the water, where the creeper skin is split open at 

 the shoulders, like the browns and drakes, and the fly 

 takes wing, or paddles to land. Many take their first 

 rest under loose stones by the water's edge, where they 

 may be found ; but after taking wing find other places 

 of repose. In this way all the dun tribes of flies 

 from the least freckled to the red progress to perfec- 

 tion, from the egg to the fly in the water. The soft 

 empty creeper skins (scarce the thickness of a min- 

 now's bladder) float away on the top. The empty 

 artificial cases remain in their original places until 

 washed away. 



TTH. RED DUN CREEPER. Length, five-eighths 

 to three-quarters. Head, shoulders, and legs, black 

 or dark brown ; body, a dark dirty shade of yellow or 

 amber. Length of case, better than an inch, covered 

 over with small short pieces and chubby knobs of bits 

 of sticks, of a black appearance, which probably im- 

 parts a dark shade to the fly. Is the largest creeper 

 and fly of the dun class. They are found under stones 

 in shallow streamy runs, but are not so numerous or 

 good to find as the cod and stickbait. The drawing 

 represents the case and fly of 30th August. 



STH. LIGHT DUN CREEPER (codbait). Length, 

 half an inch. Head, legs, and shoulders, black ; body, 

 yellow. Is the lightest colored creeper, and produces 

 the lightest dun flies ; their stony covering imparts no 



