EPHEMERA. 249 



of the outward habiliment they brought from 

 the water, including their wings. They be- 

 come lighter, more beautiful in colour, and 

 then begin their sports in the sunshine ap- 

 pearing like what might be imagined of spirits 

 freed from the weight of their terrestrial 

 covering. This last transmutation has been 

 observed and fully described by some cele- 

 brated naturalists, in the case of the May 

 flies, and one or two other species, and it 

 probably will be found a general circum- 

 stance attached to the class : I have often ob- 

 served what appeared to me to be the cast-off 

 skins of the small species of ephemerae on 

 the banks of rivers and floating in the water. 

 The green ephemera, or May fly, lays her 

 eggs sitting on the water, which instantly 

 sink to the bottom ; and most of the duns, or 

 small slender- winged flies, do the same. The 

 gray or glossy-winged May fly, commonly 

 called the gray drake, performs regular mo- 

 tions in the air above the water, rising and 

 falling, and sitting, as it were, for a moment 

 on the surface, and rising again, at which 

 time she is said to deposit her eggs. To at- 



