INSECTS. 295 



red ant and orange-flj; and occasionally crickets and 

 grasshoppers are imitarted! 



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 



