238 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



The fisherman is now supposed to have caught a 



number of specimens of the 

 Identification of genus floating insect on which he 

 and species. beHeves the rising trout is 



feeding. He has decided that 

 the insects belong to the family of Ephemeridse, and 

 he is now confronted by the difficulty of deciding 

 which of the twenty-five patterns representing flies of 

 this family in the new series — or of a far greater 

 number, if he is a votary of the old standards — is the 

 one to use as an imitation of the natural insect. 



The mayflies are so much larger than any other of 



the British Ephemeridse that 

 Mayflies. even the fisherman who had 



never seen one before could 

 scarcely fail to identify them. There are three British 

 species of true mayflies — Ephemera danica, Ephemera 

 vulgata and Ephemera lineata. These three species 

 can be identified by the difference in the dorsal mark- 

 ings on the abdomen of the imago. 



Eaton describes the markings of the male thus : 

 " E. vulgata. The dorsal markings are a pair of 

 curvilinear triangles, broadest at the base of the seg- 

 ments and ending abruptly at its thickened hinder 

 margin, and a pair of fine curved longitudinal lines 

 interposed between them, which are often effaced." 

 Of E. danica imago male he says : " Abdomen with 

 the foremost four or five dorsal segments ivory white, 

 with a pale cinereous broad triangular blotch at their 

 base on each side pointing backwards ; the hinder 



