832 E l 5 H 
fon. Thefe infedts are natives of the river Paffaic, but 
their utmofl range is not above two miles and a half, and 
within thefe limits they rife iji clouds, and without nuni- 
b'r. Their firfl appearance every year is about the 20th 
of July, and they continue riling every evening, more or 
lefs, about three weeks. They feek the light, for they fly 
in crowds to a lamp or candle. Some exift but one lvour, 
others but half that time ; in which fhort period they com¬ 
ply with the call of nature. With refpeft to thofe who live 
feveral days, there is a peculiarity obferved, incident to 
themfelves alone. They have to cad: off one flough more, 
an operation which fometimes takes twenty-four hours to 
complete. To bring this about, they cling fad to a tree. 
The ephemerse, before they flutter in air, have in fome 
meafure been filhes. They remain in the dates of larvae 
and chryfalids for one, two, or three, years. The chry- 
falis only differs from the larva by there being on its back 
cafes for wings. Both have on their ddes fmall fringes 
of hair, which, when put into motion, ferve them as 
fins. Nothing can be more curious than the plying of 
thefe little oars in the water. Their abdomen is termi¬ 
nated, as well as in their fly date, by two or three threads 
or bridles. Thefe larvae fcoop themfelves out dwellings 
in the banks of rivers ; and they are fmall tubes made 
like fiphons, the one ferving for an entrance, the other 
affording them an outlet. The banks of fome rivers are 
quite perforated with them. When the waters decreafe, 
they dig frefit holes lower down, in order to enjoy their 
element, the water. The feafon and hour when the 
chryfalids of the different fpecies of the ephemera; turn 
into flies, maintain a kind of regularity. The heat, the 
rife or fall of the waters, accelerate, however, or podpone, 
their final difplay. The ephemera? of the Rhine appear 
in the air two hours before funfet. Thefe flies are hatched 
almod all at the fame indant in fuch numbers as to darken 
the air. The mod early of thofe on the Marne and Seine 
in France do not begin to fly till two hours after the fet- 
ting of the fun, towards the middle of Augud. They 
are feen fluttering and fporting on the brink of their 
tomb. The glare of light attracts them, round which 
they perform a thoufand circles with amazing regularity. 
Their coming together for the purpofe of generation can 
only be furmifed, the fliortnefs of their life requiring that 
all its funftions fliould be proportionable to their dura¬ 
tion. Some naturalids have been of opinion, that the 
males impregnate the eggs after the manner of fifties. 
The females, by the help of the bridles of their tail, and 
the flapping of their wings, fupport themfelves on the 
furface of the water, and in that almod upright fituation 
drop their eggs in cluders. One (ingle female will lay 
feven or eight hundred eggs, which link to the bottom. 
The larvae that efcape from the voracioufnefs of the fifhes, 
fet about the condruftion of habitations to (helter them 
from every kind of danger. When the flies have propa¬ 
gated, they are feen to die and fall by heaps. In Car- 
niola, the land and waters are drewed with them to a 
confiderable thicknefs; infomuch that the peafants colledt 
them by cart-loads to manure the ground. Trout are 
not only remarkably fond of this fly, but of the larvae 
likewife. The fiftiermen confider thefe multitudes of 
falling infects as manna for the fifhes.—See figures of 
three fpecies in the engraving. 
EPHE'MER AL, or Ephemeric, adj. [from two,upon, 
and §«, Gr. a day.] Diurnal 5 beginning and ending in 
a day.—This was no more than a mere bubble or blad, 
and like an ephemeral fit of applaufe. Wotton. 
EPHE'MERIS, or Ephemerides, /i [effemaeride, Ital. 
stpii/y.epiJsc, Gr.] Tables calculated by adronomers, (hew¬ 
ing the prefent date of the heavens for every day at noon; 
that is, the places in which all the planets are found at 
that time ; differing but little from an adronomical al¬ 
manac. It is from fuch tables that theeclipfes, conjunc¬ 
tions, and afpedts, of the planets are made out; as alfo 
horofeopes, or celedial fchemes, condrudted, &c. There 
fiave been ephemerides of Origan, Keeler, Argoli, Hec- 
E P H 
kerus, Mezzarachis, Wing, Gadbury, Parker, De la Hire, 
&c. In France the academy of fciences have publifhed 
annually, from the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
a kind of ephemeris, under the title of Connoi/fance dcs 
Temps , which is dill continued, and is in great edeem; as 
are alfo the ephemerides, publiihed every ten years, by 
M. Defplaces, and De la Lande. There are alfo publifh¬ 
ed fuch ephemerides by the academies of feveral other 
nations ; but that which is in mod edeem for its accuracy 
and ufe in finding the longitude, is the Nautical Almanac, 
or Adronomical Ephemeris, publifhed in London by the 
board pf longitude, under the direction of the Rev. Dr.. 
Mafkelyne, afironomer royal, which commenced in 1767. 
EPHE'MERIST, f One who confults the planets; 
one who (Indies or pradtifes aftrology.—The night before, 
he was difeourfing of and flighting the art of foolifh adro- 
logers, and genethliacal ephemerifes, that pry into the horo- 
fcope of nativities. Hoiocl. 
EPHE'MERUM, f. in botany. See Commelina, 
Eranthemum, Helonias, Lysimachia, and Trades. 
C ANTI A. 
E'PHES-DAM'MIM, (or thecoadof Dammim, called 
alfo Paf-dammim,) in Palefiine, in the tribe of Judah ; 
where the Philidines encamped previous to the battle in 
the valley of Elah. 1 Sam. xvii. 1. 1 Chron. xi. 13. 
EPHE'SIAN, adj. Belonging to Ephefus. 
EPHE'SI AN,/ - . A native of Ephefus. 
EPHES'TRIS, f. In antiquity, a garment worn over 
armour. Phillips. 
FiPH'ESUS, a city of Ionia, in Afia Minor, built, as 
Judin mentions, by the Amazons; or by Androchus, fon 
of Codrus, according to Strabo ; or by Ephefus, fabled 
to be a fon of the river Cayfler. It is famous for a tem¬ 
ple of Diana, which was reckoned one of the feven won¬ 
ders of the world. Mr. Dallaway, wdio recently vifited 
Ephefus, and publifhed his account of it fo late as 1797, 
deferibes it as follows : V At a ruined bridge, on the 
banks of the Cayder, the view, infinitely grand, extends 
from a mount crowned with a (ingle tower, and includes 
a feries of the reliques of ancient Ephefus around mount 
Prion, flanked by the ferrated cliffs of mount Correffus, 
the dilapidated mofque, village, and caflle, of Aiafoluk, 
ingrafted on a bold fadnefs, and completing a profpect 
of fuperior interefl. What it was, when Ephefus flou- 
riflied, the boaff of Ionia, imagination mud now fupply ; 
nor are all the features of nature dill the fame. Thofe 
which are unaltered are upon fo magnificent a fcale as 
feldom to occur independent of fuch accompaniments, 
however heightened by them. The branch of the fea 
which formed its port no longer exids, and is ill fucceeded 
by a vad morafs of tall reeds. The vale of Ephefus 
exhibits fo total a change, that a perfect phenomenon ap¬ 
pears to have taken place ; although, in the lapfe of fo 
many ages, from the fame caufe, the fame effedl may have 
been produced in many countries, the date of which, at 
as remote a period of time, has not been tranfmitted to 11s. 
An arm of the Asgean fea furniflied the city with feve¬ 
ral ports, but all were (hallow and incommodious. At- 
talus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, memorable for the 
magnificence of his public works, was perfuaded by an 
architect to condruft a mole, which fliould remedy the 
inconvenience. They did not forefee that by interrupting 
the current fo great a mifehief would enfue ; for the ac¬ 
cretion of the earth, brought down by a river of torrents, 
foon dedroyed the port, and the commercial advantages 
of the place ; and in fucceflive ages has encroached fome 
miles on the dominion of the fea. The Cayder now flows 
through fedges, fcarcely 1 vifible ; and whoever vifits 
Ephefus, without previous information, could not fup- 
pofe it ever to have had a free communication with the 
ocean. 
In the Grecian hidory, the firfl circumdance recorded 
of Ephefus, is the (iege by Croefus, king of Lydia, at 
that time a city of the Carians, rendered facred by the 
fame of Diana. To that venerable ftru&ure, the Ephe- 
ifjans 
