The ephemeridæ include the blue dun, which becomes the red spinner in its final state; the marsh brown, which changes to the great red spinner; the turkey brown, that is transformed into the little dark spinner; the iron blue dun, that becomes the jenny spinner; the green and grey drakes, the July and August duns, and many others. The phryganidæ comprise the sand and cinnamon flies and the grannom or green-tail, besides many undescribed. Of the diptera, which are distinguished by having but two wings, we have the cowdung-fly, the golden dun midge, and the black gnat; of the beetles, the peacock and fern flies and marlow buzz; of the hymenoptera, the red ant and orange-fly; and occasionally crickets and grasshoppers are imitated.
These are a few, and but a few, of the beautiful insects that sport around or upon our lovely lakes and streams; the advancing heat of Spring warms them into life; they burst forth, enchanting man with their beauty, and gaily pass a few days or hours, surrounded by innumerable dangers, which they seem never to heed. One kind succeeds another as the summer advances, usually the more gaudy during the greatest heat, till they crowd the ponds, the air, the bushes with indescribable brilliancy. I have seen, toward evening, yellow sallies appear in myriads, their dead bodies literally covering the water; and in the St. Lawrence rivers, dead eel-flies lie in such masses as to give the effect of sea-weed.
It is very desirable that fishermen should, for their own sakes as well as the sake of science, pay more attention to the habits and peculiarities of these insects. The study of nature in its minute productions is wonderful; the observations of individuals combined is of great value, and adds immensely to the general store of knowledge; something more would be effected than the mere pleasure of taking a large mess, and the reproach of idleness removed from our enjoyments. To be sure, the men of science, by the use of ridiculous foreign names and the confounding of a confused and worthless system, have done all they can to discourage such an undertaking and repel such aid; but every one can note the peculiarities that are heretofore mentioned, can even readily preserve a specimen and mark the times and manner of their appearance and the length of their duration, and though he may fail to obtain the scientific name, can determine the species and ascertain the habits of a few members of the most wonderful, intricate, and interesting portion of the creation.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CAMP LIFE.
One of the most important matters that demand the sportsman’s attention, is the equipment he should take with him to make his life in the woods pleasant. He will have many annoyances and even hardships to encounter, and should be as well prepared to meet them as circumstances will permit. The following directions are founded upon the idea he intends to retire to the wilderness, far from the abode of man, where he will have to trust for his support to his own exertions, and although many of them may seem superfluous, and to the robust may savor of effeminacy, to those who desire real comfort they will prove acceptable.
The great pest of the wild woods is—not tigers nor panthers, not bears nor wolves, not even snakes—but something far smaller but infinitely more terrible—the Black Fly! If it were possible for the uninitiated to conceive or the pen to describe the horrors conveyed in these words, I should endeavor to record them. Think of the rack, the boot, the thumb-screw, the wheel; think of being rent asunder by wild horses, or torn in bits with hot pincers; think of the tortures of the inquisition, or the cruel fanaticism of India, and smile; they do not compare with the black fly. When mosquitoes hover round you day and night, when they fill the air you breathe and deafen your ears with their hum, when your hands, face and body are covered with itching lumps, it is hard to bear. But mosquitoes are comparatively quiet in the sun-light, and are partially affected by smoke; they can be influenced by a smudge, can be frightened off and sometimes killed; they do not compare with the sand-fly.
The latter, almost invisible to the naked eye, comes in absolute myriads; it settles upon every inch of exposed flesh; it creeps into every crevice; it cannot be frightened away, but must be brushed off; its worst attacks are at night, when tired nature is pining for a little rest; its bite does not itch, but burns like fire, till face, hands and neck feel as though they had been scalded. But the sand-fly, bad as he is, can be persuaded out of your tent by a fire; he does not abound except in sandy localities; his bite does not draw blood, nor raise a lump, and is not permanent; he does not compare with the black fly.
The latter comes without a warning note; he bites till the blood runs in a stream, and inflicts the sharpest pain; he clings fast till he is absolutely rubbed off, and crawls up your sleeve or pants or down your neck; he loves not the fire, nor fears the smoke; he cannot be enticed nor driven away. The mosquito comes numerous as the rain-drops in a shower; the sand-fly as the motes in sunlight; but the black fly like the sand of the desert when the simoom is raging. Resignation can endure the first, stoicism the second, but nothing the last.