MAY-FLY FISHING. 
THE true May-flies of the British angler belong to the ordcr 
Neuroptera, to the family Zphemeride, and to the genus 
Ephemera. In the majority of the colder and more rapid 
English streams, such as the Test or Itchen, Z. danica is the 
predominant species, while in the more sluggish rivers or lakes 
£. vulgata is commonly found, and more rarely Z. dineata. 
These three—the only English species—may be recognised by 
minute differences in size or colouring, slight variations in 
neuration of wings, or in the markings of the thorax or abdo- 
men, &c., all of which are no doubt of considerable value 
to the scientific entomologist, as enabling him to separate the 
species, but are of no practical use to the angler for the pur- 
poses of his sport. When he finds in this country one of the 
Ephemeridz of large size, with wings erect dotted with four or 
five dark-spots and tinged with a delicate shade of yellowish- 
grey green, with body of a pale straw colour marked in the 
lower segments with a few brown streaks, the thorax of a 
deep brown-black with a pale sepia blotch in the middle of the 
back, and the three setee of nearly equal length, and especially 
if he finds this insect on the water at the end of May or 
early portion of June, he may be certain that it is a speci- 
men of the Green Drake, or subimago of one of the above- 
named three species. Having once seen the subimago, he 
will find no difficulty in recognising the same insect after the 
further metamorphosis to the imago, Spent Gnat, or Black 
Drake. 
Not only are the three species so closely allied and so 
similar in appearance that, for all angling purposes, the imita- 
tion of any one is quite near enough to serve as an imitation 
