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Pistons of some bright machine

25 October 2009 8 Comments Home » Insects etc.

A mayfly from a long forgotten spring,
in some species the adults live only a few minutes.

Richard Wilbur in the poem “Mayflies” found them:

“the weavers of some cloth of gold,
Or the fine pistons of some bright machine.”

A mayfly from a long forgotten spring

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Pterygota | Ephemeroptera

8 Comments »

Michael Sinclair said:

A very delicate and beautiful creature.

# 25 October 2009 at 8:26 pm

Rick said:

All the more reason to mate in mid-air, Michael.

# 25 October 2009 at 8:27 pm

Denice said:

Life lived in an instant. Timeless. Priceless.

# 26 October 2009 at 6:51 am

Rick said:

Thanks Denice. I’d like to weave wings like those.

# 26 October 2009 at 7:29 am

jason said:

Like a crystal figurine . . . Stunning!

# 28 October 2009 at 5:53 am

Rick said:

Thanks Jason. An inspiration for Tiffany and Chihuly.

# 28 October 2009 at 8:02 am

Diane said:

I call these fishflies. I see literally thousands every year outside my work at night (close to Lake St. Clair) but I believe they only live 48 hours?

And they really do smell like fish! Your picture is beautiful, the ones I see are brownish/grey, a bit on the dull side in terms of color. Is this a different type? or just a very flattering picture?

# 28 March 2010 at 10:38 pm

Rick said:

Adult mayflies don’t live more than a day or two. Hard to say about the color, but this is a flattering picture.

# 16 April 2010 at 11:45 am