250 SALMONIA. 



tempt to describe all the variety of ephemerae, 

 that sport on the surface of the water at dif- 

 ferent times of the day, throughout the year, 

 would be quite an endless labour. Some of 

 them appear to live only a few hours, and 

 none of them, I believe, have their existence 

 protracted to more than a few days. In 

 spring and autumn a new variety of these 

 flies sometimes appears every day, or even in 

 different parts of the same day. Of the 

 beetle, or colyoptera genus, there are many 

 varieties fed on by fishes. These insects, which 

 are distinguished, as you know, by four wings, 

 two husky-like shells above, and two slender 

 and finer ones below, are bred from eggs, 

 which they deposit in the ground, or in the 

 excrement of animals, and which, producing 

 larvae in the usual way, are converted into 

 beetles, and these larvae themselves are good 

 bait for fish. The brown beetle, or cockchaf- 

 fer, the fern fly, and the gray beetle, which 

 are abundant in the meadows in the summer, 

 are often blown into the water, and are the 

 most common insects of this kind eaten by 

 fishes. Whether the ditisci and hydrophili, 



