MAY-FLIES. 57 
not only in itself, but also as the representative type 
of a host of others, all well known to fishermen and 
entomologists, still not so well known as they might 
be. 
= May-F Lins. 
Fishermen generally believe that the May-fly, the 
Ephemera vulgata of naturalists, is represented by two 
individuals, respectively termed the green drake and 
the grey drake, the one being the male the other the 
female of the same species of insect. This is an error, 
though a very natural one, under the circumstances. 
The writer, being both fisherman and entomologist, 
would like to bridge over the gulf formed by this 
difference in opinion, and there could scarcely be a 
more eligible place for setting such a question on its 
true basis, for probably the first time, than in these 
pages, devoted alike to natural history and fishing. 
For considering this subject minutely, no apology 
need be requisite ; it has been well said that 
“ach crawling insect holds a rank, 
Important in the plan of Him, who formed 
This scale of beings ; a rank which, lost, 
Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap, 
Which nature’s self would rue.” 
The remarkable metamorphoses undergone by~ 
many of the insect tribes are generally known to the 
most unobservant. There is, however, a peculiar fea- 
