34 THE TROUT 



may have been ' up ' thickly, and many a heavy 

 basket have been the result. 



The Mayfly will perhaps perform this disappearing 

 trick for a couple of years in succession, and then 

 for some unexplainable cause it will again dance grace- 

 fully on to the scene, and the soul of the fisherman 

 will once more rejoice. 



Again, why should the Mayfly sometimes draw a 

 hard-and-fast line at certain lengths of a river whereon 

 they abound every where else except upon those particu- 

 lar stretches ? I do not know, and I doubt whether 

 any one does. The appearance of the water in both 

 the favoured and despised portions of the stream may 

 be identical ; the surrounding vegetation of every 

 description may be absolutely similar and as abun- 

 dant : and yet in the one place is the Mayfly, and in 

 the other it is not. What an interesting insect it is, 

 and what a strange brief life it has ! 



Consider for a moment what an amount of trouble 

 Dame Nature has taken to produce this delicately 

 fantastic insect, and then think for how long, after it 

 has reached its perfect form, it is allowed to exist ! 

 Not less than two years elapse from the time when 

 the eggs are deposited in the water to the day when, 

 slowly and almost painfully, the pupa emerges from 

 the river into the open air. Then, when from out of 



