242 INDIRECT BENEFITS DEEIVED FROM INSECTS. 



be seen. So that in less than two hours this infinite host of 

 flies emerge from their parent stream, fill the air, perform 

 their appointed work, and vanish. A very large proportion of 

 them falls into the river, when the fish have their grand 

 festival and the fishermen a good harvest.^ 



Under this head I may observe how much the patient 

 angler is indebted to insects for some of his choicest baits, for 

 the best opportunities of showing his skill, and for the most 

 gratifying part of his diversion. The case-worm and several 

 other larvae are the best standing bait for many fish. The 

 larva of the Ephemera, there called bait and bank-bait ^, is 

 much used in some parts of Holland. The case-worms, and 

 grubs (I suppose of flies) from the tallow chandlers, and the 

 larv^ of wasps taken out of the comb, are in request with us 

 for roach and dace ; and I am told by an acute observer of 

 these things, the Rev. R. Sheppard, that the Geotrupes and 

 MelolonthcB are good baits for chub.^ But to be an adept in 

 fly-fishing, which requires the most skill and furnishes the best 

 diversion, the angler ought to be conversant in Entomology, 

 at least sufliciently so to distinguish the different species of 

 Phryganea and other Trichoptera, and to know the time of 

 their appearance. The angler is not only indebted to insects 

 for some of his best baits, but also for the best material to 

 fasten his hooks to, and even for making his lines for smaller 

 fish — the Indian grass or gut, as it is called (termed in 

 France Cheveux de Florence), which is said to be prepared in 

 China from the matter contained in the silk reservoirs of the 

 silk-worm, but according to Latreille is the silk vessel itself 

 when dried.'* 



One of the most important ends for which insects were 

 gifted with such powers of multiplication, giving birth to 

 myriads of myriads of individuals, was to furnish the feathered 



1 Reaum. vi. 479— 487. 2 Swamm. Bih. Nat. i. c. 4. 106. b. 



3 In Col. Venable's Experienced Angler, a vast number of insects are enume- 

 rated as good baits for fish, under the names of JBob, Cadbait, Cankers, Cater- 

 pillars, Palmers, Gentles, Bark worms. Oak-worms, Colewort-tvorms, Flag-icorms, 



Green-Jlies, Ant-Jlies, Butterflies, Wasps, Hornets, Bees, Humble-bees, Grasshoppers, 

 Dors, Beetles, a great brown fl.1/ that lives upon the oak like a Scarabee (Melo- 

 lontha vulgaris, or Amphimalla solstitialis ?), and flies (i. e. May-flies) of various 

 sorts. — See also Mr. Ronald's Fly-fisher's Entomology. 



4 Anderson's Recreations in Agricult. &c. iv. 478.; Latr. Hist. Nat. xiv. 154. 



