150 Ephemera, the May-Fly. 



not a particle of food has she tasted since she left her nymphal 

 state, not a particle of food will she taste so long as her short 

 life lasts. If you examine the digestive apparatus of any of 

 these insects, whether male or female, when in the imago or 

 sub-imago state, you will never find the slightest traces of food 

 in the stomach ; this organ, as well as the whole intestinal 

 canal, is almost always full of air-bubbles ; catch one of those 

 dancing males with their long extended fore-feet that you may 

 mistake for antennae, and press him quickly in the middle, 

 crack he goes ! for the little air-bubbles have burst by the 

 pressure. No wonder that Ephemera's stomach is empty, for 

 he has no mouth, at least none that could be of any use to 

 him, so rudimentary is that organ now. But though his 

 stomach is full of air-bubbles, we must not suppose that 

 Ephemera suffers in the least from flatulence. The intestinal 

 canal, there can be no doubt, serves the purpose of buoying up 

 the little animal, and saves the expenditure of muscular 

 action ; for as no food is taken to supply the waste, the muscles 

 will not be capable of long-sustained action. But see the 

 water is now coming down beautifully; bravo old Flour-dust ! 

 Now for the fly-rod. There's a fish just under that stone 

 where the current forms a quiet back eddy, I'll be bound to 

 say. And I have him now, and a good fish he is ! Now for 

 the landing-net, for the bank is steep. Well done ! He is a 

 good pound-weight, and in nice condition. Just let us open 

 his stomach, and see what he has had for dinner. We must 

 float the contents out into a little water, and now we find a 

 quantity of green-drakes, with a promiscuous variety of other 

 insect food. We will still, therefore, keep to our artificial 

 May-fly. 



And now having killed a good basket of trout, we will 

 return home with our specimens, and examine them with the 

 aid of our dissecting scissors, and lens, and microscope. But 

 before we do this, let us say a few words on Ephemeridce, or the 

 May-fly family in general. 



The earliest notice of these insects occurs in Aristotle's 

 History of Animals. In book v., chap. 18, he speaks of certain 

 capsules larger than grapeseed floating down the river Hypanis 

 in the Cimmerian Bosphorus about the time of the summer 

 solstice, out of which, when ruptured, proceed four-footed 

 winged creatures, which live and fly about till evening, and die 

 at sunset, living but a day, for which cause the insect is called 

 Ephemeron, the name by which it is known to this day. What 

 the philosopher's grapeseed capsules may be I cannot say. It 

 is evident that Aristotle was relating what he had heard from 

 other sources, but there can be no doubt that the insect alluded 

 to is some species of Ephemera. (Elian, who generally copies 



