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John has been fishing.
What do you think he caught?
Nary fish, my dears, but a goodly number of stone flies, which he has
brought to show us.
Yes, Mollie, they do remind us a very little of our May flies, only, of
course, they are many times larger.
It is rather a clumsy creature in spite of its large wings, and John
says he had no trouble whatever in catching it.
See, it has four wings, and the hind ones are the larger.
Yes, May, they fold up in plaits, like the sticks of a fan.
See its long antennæ and its compound eyes. Its eyes are not so large as
are those of the dragon fly. It does not spend its time pursuing other
insects, but is more like the May fly after it gets its wings.
Yes, Ned, it lives longer than the May fly, but it does not live very
long, and it eats little.
It is a pretty little gray thing as it rests on the side of John's box,
with its wings folded like a gossamer cloak over its body.
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It lays its eggs in the water, and out of them hatch little six-legged
larvæ that are not troubled by want of appetite. If the winged stone fly
does not eat, its larva does; it is like the other larvæ we know, always
devouring something.
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Yes, Charlie, it feeds on living creatures, greatly relishing the larvæ
of the May flies, or any other luckless insect infants it can capture.
It grows fast and moults several times, and when winter comes it hides
away, only to come forth at the first breath of spring and continue its
eating.
Like other larvæ that live under water, it does its breathing by means
of gills, and these gills are in little tufts just above the base of
each leg.
It lives under stones, which is why it is called the stone fly, and it
slides quickly around a corner when you lift up its stone.
Fish are very fond of it, and hunt it as eagerly as it hunts larvæ.
Since it makes good bait for brook trout, its life is always in danger.
It finishes its growth in early summer, and emerges from its larval
skin as a perfect winged insect.
Yes, indeed, John, you can often find dozens of the cast-off skins of
the stone flies along the brook sides in the month of June.
The stone flies are harmless little people, and we should never kill one
needlessly.
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