THa DAY FLY. 



477 



Sonne r.iituvallfls have pretended, that thefe eggs Vv'ere all 

 impregnated, like thofe of fiihes, by a kind of fpern^ 

 cjefted from the body of the males. This opinion, how- 

 ever, is combated by Reai{??mr *, as being attended with 

 many difficulties. That natiiralift, by the help of a light- 

 ed torch, has examined thete animals narrowly in their 

 winged Itate ; and although that method of furveying 

 infedts, whofe numbers occalion fo much confufion, be 

 uncertain, he alTerts, that he obferved them engaged iu 

 lliort copulations ; an adertion tlie more probable, fmce, 

 if the ephemeras copulate, that a6l behoved to be more 

 inftantaneous than in any other race of beings. 



Another fpecies of the day fly is feen to call a Ikin, 

 even afcer it has arrived at its winged flate : Thus, how- 

 ever (lender their wings might at lirll appear, they mull, 

 as well as the whole body, have been euveioped in a coat 

 \yhich the animal then drops f. 



The ephemera viilgala, or common day fly, Is the 

 largeft of thefe infedls with which naturahlls are yet ac- 

 quainted ; it carries at the extremity of the abdomen 

 three brov.'n threads, nearly of equal length with the 

 body, which is all over brown. The wings are onia- 

 incnted with brown veins, which form a net-work. 



In Carniolc, a province of Germany^ this fpecies is fo 

 numerous, that the peafants think they make a bad har- 

 vefl of them, if they do not unload upon their land many 

 carts filled with tliefe infecls. They make excellent ma- 

 jiure ; but the number of animals of fo fmall a iizc necef- 

 fary to fupply the quantity, mull exceed the power oc 

 imagination to conceive. 



* Vide Elblia Natuia;. f Reaua;ur, Tome VI. Pref. 



