The Mayor of Wind-Gap; And Canvassing

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1865 Excerpt: ... Walton's own country, because it invariably makes its appearance whea jovial May has reached to full maturity, and is leading forward the mora ardent June. TheMay-fly, or green-drake, as the most remarkable of its species, gives the scientific name, ' Epemera, or short-lived, to a numerous class of insects. It is known to naturalists, that flies generated beneath the water undergo the same series of transformations as those belonging exclusively to terrafirma; that from ovae theybecomelarvae, from larvae they change to pupae, and that from pupae they are transformed to winged insects, having all the characteristics denoted by the generic term insect. Also, that the ovae, from which the ultimate insects first proceed, shortly after reaching the bed of the water, on the surface of which they have been cast, become larvse. And also, that in the larva state, they quickly form for themselves elongated cases, or tubes, smooth within, circular for the entire length, and protected on the outside by minute particles of gravel, firmly cemented. The stucture of these tubes, and adaptation to their purpose, would, of itself, be worthy of study, but would render my angler's wrinkle unseasonably diffuse. So long as they are larv. these tubes are their dwellings, within which they retire for repose, or to avoid danger. When about to leave the pupa state, the larva seals up his tube at the open end, and within the closed cell undergoes his third change of being. Perforating the sealed end, the pupa comes forth and ascends to the surface of the water: almost immediately, it casts off its outward skin, rejecting even an encasement covering the whisks at the termination of the body--and the almost aerial wings; and, for the first time, exists in our atmosph...