INSECTS. 



287 



red ant and orange-fly; and occasionally crickets and 

 grasshoppers are imitated. 



These are a few, and but a few, of the beautiful insects 

 that sport around or upon our lovely lakes and streams ; 

 the advancing heat of Spring warms them into life ; they 

 burst forth, enchanting man with their beauty, and gaily 

 pass a few days or hours, surrounded by innumerable 

 dangers, which they seem never to heed. One kind suc- 

 ceeds another as the summer advances, usually the more 

 gaudy during the greatest heat, till they crowd the 

 ponds, the air, the bushes with indescribable brilliancy. 

 I have seen, toward evening, yellow sallies appear in 

 myriads, their dead bodies literally covering the water ; 

 and in the St. Lawrence rivers, dead eel-flies lie in such 

 masses as to give the effect of sea-weed. 



It is very desirable that fishermen should, for their 

 own sakes as well as the sake of science, pay more atten- 

 tion to the habits and peculiarities of these insects. The 

 study of nature in its minute productions is wonderful ; 

 the observations of individuals combined is of great 

 value, and adds immensely to the general store of know- 

 ledge ; something more would be effected than the mere 

 pleasure of taking a large mess, and the reproach of 

 idleness removed from our enjoyments. To be sure, the 

 men of science, by the use of ridiculous foreign names 

 and the confounding of a confused and worthless system, 

 have done all they can to discourage such an undertaking 

 and repel such aid ; but every one can note the pecu- 

 liarities that are heretofore mentioned, can even readily 

 preserve a specimen and mark the times and manner of 

 their appearance and the length of their duration, and 



