CADDIS FLIES. 381 



which it rested about a quarter of an inch above the surface 

 of the water. After remaining there about two days, it re- 

 sumed its aquatic habits, and, like all others, formed its winter 

 habitation." 



Water Spiders are now familiar to us on account of the wide- 

 spread fashion for aquaria, but so thoroughly have the ditches 

 and streams been ransacked by professional dealers, that the 

 creature has become quite rare in spots where it was once 

 plentiful. 



The Water Spider places her eggs in this cell, spinning a saucer- 

 shaped cocoon, and fixing it against the inner side of the cell 

 and near the top. In this cocoon are about a hundred eggs, of a 

 spherical shape, and very small. The cell is a true home for the 

 spider, which passes its earliest days under the water, and when 

 it is strong enougb to construct a sub-aquatic home for itself, 

 brings its prey to the cell before eating it. 



The colour of the Water Spider is brown, with a greyish surface 

 caused by the thick growth of hair which covers the body, and 

 with a very slight tinge of red on the cephalothorax. The 

 reader must not confound this creature with another Arachnid 

 that is sometimes called the Water Spider {Hydrachna cruenta), 

 and is of a bright scarlet colour, with a peculiar velvety 

 surface. 



Theke is an order of insects which is especially dear to anglers ; 

 not so much to fly-fishers, as to those who like to sit and look at 

 a float for several consecutive hours. This order is scientifically 

 termed Teichopteea, or Hair-winged insects, and the various 

 species of which it is composed are classed together under the 

 familiar title of Caddis Flies. 



These insects may always be known by the peculiar leathery 

 aspect of the body, and by the coating of hair with which the 

 wings are covered, the long hairs being spread over the whole 

 surface, and standing boldly out like a fringe round the edge. 

 They all have long and slender antennae, and in some genera, 

 such as Mystacida, these organs are nearly three times as long 

 as the head and body, reminding the observer of the lovely Japan 

 moths (Adelse) whose delicate antennae wave and glitter in the 

 sunbeams like stray threads of spider's web. For the perfect 

 insect the angler cares comparatively little. Imitations in hair, 



