THE MAY-FLY : OR GREEN DRAKE. 1 2/ 



August. The latter produce first the delicate tints, 

 ending with the lead-blue shades of November. 



Such casts as are called the Apple-green, Orange, 

 and Whirling Blue Duns, do not occur anything like 

 annually ; they prevail only during a spell of un- 

 seasonable weather. A Dun of these pronounced 

 shades may not be observed for several seasons, 

 whilst for some weeks in the succeeding one it may 

 be exceedingly prevalent. If the range of shades 

 previously described are correctly asserted to be 

 dependent upon the state of the elements, and there- 

 fore accidental, these latter are doubly so. 



The May-fly, Green Drake, or Caddow concludes 

 the order of up-winged insects. This fly is an annual 

 one, appearing upon the majority of trout streams 

 about the first week in June. Throughout Britain it 

 may be said to be in season from the middle of May 

 to the middle of June. These flies are often wondrously 

 numerous. The first four days or so when they begin 

 to come up, the fish seem rather afraid of them, 

 but as they become more numerous they are greedily 

 taken. These flies are common for twelve or fifteen 

 days, when they entirely disappear till the next 

 season. The fish so gorge themselves during the 

 drake season that they lie dormant for some days 

 before they are relieved from the effects of their 

 excess. More has been written upon this than per- 

 haps any other fly. It has been set up as an analogy 

 for the lesser ephemeral orders, which is scarcely 

 correct, as it appears but for a limited period annually ; 

 and in the second place the egg remains in the water 



