140 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



under ones, when at rest, as the coch y bondu or Marlow 

 buzz, the fern fly, the peacock, and others ; and the Diptera, 

 or two-winged (from Svo, two), as the cow-dung, hawthorn, 

 black gnat, gravel bed, etc. The majority of the insects used 

 in the two last orders, however, are land insects. 



The two families upon which the main hopes of the angler 

 rest, are the Ephemeridae and the Phryganidse, since some of 

 the species of one or the other, or both of these families, are 

 sure to be on the water if any fly at all is. As much confusion 

 prevails amongst anglers as to their history, it may not be 

 out of place here to devote a few lines to it. An error which 

 still largely prevails amongst fishermen is, that the May flies 

 or drakes come from the caddis, or case grubs, found in abun- 

 dance in many waters at the bottom ; and according to the 

 plenty or scarcity of these, so they estimate the plenty or 

 scarcity of the May fly, in the season. This is a great mistake, 

 as the caddis has nothing whatever to do with the Ephemeridae ; 

 it is the home of the Phryganidae exclusively, and their plenty 

 will determine the abundance of sand, grannom, sedge, cinna- 

 mon, and other flies of that class. 



To trace the Ephemeridae through their various transfor- 

 mations, we will commence with the egg, which is dropped on 

 the water by the imago, or perfect fly, and which finds its way 

 to the bottom, where it awaits the period of hatching. When 

 hatched, it becomes a very active predaceous larva (the word 

 larva signifying a mask,* as in this form it is the mask of the 

 perfect insect), with six legs, and extremely strong hook- 

 shaped mandibles, the tail having three whisks, which are the 

 rudiments of the tail of the imago. Along the sides of the 

 larva is a series of small filamentary appendages, serving as 

 fins, and by the aid of which the creature is supposed to 

 breathe under water ; these are somewhat akin to the fila- 

 ments or fringes of which the gills of fishes are composed, and 

 extract from the water in a similar manner the oxygen necessary 

 for the larva's existence. Another error of anglers is thus 

 disposed of, viz. that owing to spring floods, the larvae of 

 the May fly have been drowned when there is a bad fly year. 

 The process of drowning an insect which lives in the water 



* While it has been ascertained that the larvse of some of the Ephemeridae 

 feed upon small forms of animal life, all authorities, from Swammerdum and 

 Pictet down to our own time, seem agreed that the larva of the British May fly 

 (Ephemera danica) so far from being actively predaceous, subsists entirely 

 by swallowing mud, and derives nutriment from such particles of organic 

 matter, animal or vegetable, as it may contain. ED. 



