POST EMBRYOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EPHEMEROPTERA (MAYFLIES). EXTERNAL CHARACTERS ONLY
The development of external structures is followed from hatching to maturity. The life histories of two species Stenonema canadense Wlk. and Ephemera simulans Wlk. are described in detail and less complete accounts given of nine others.Each moult results in a change in the number of segments in the caudal filaments and on this basis it has been possible to determine the number of instars. In Stenonema canadense the number was found to be between 40 and 45, and in Ephemera simulans about 30. Segments are added to the caudal filaments of the former at each moult in the following way: one in each of the first two moults, two in each of the next three, three in the next and four at each subsequent nymphal moult. In the change from nymph to subimago distal segments are dropped in Ephemera and probably in Stenonema also.Mouth parts are very different in the newly hatched than in the full grown nymph as described for Stenonema canadense.A definite case of a hypermetamorphosis of the tarsus and its claws appears in the life history of Epeorus humeralis and Iron pleuralis.Gills are absent in the first instar in all the species studied. In some species they appear simultaneously on all the gill bearing segments at the first moult. In others they appear on segments five and six only at this moult, those of the other segments appearing only after several moults. The internal or secondary ramus of the gills appears much later in the nymphal life. The ultimate shape of the gill is influenced in some cases by the fact that the gills of segments five and six are segmented or unsegmented.In S. canadense the wing pads make their appearance in about the fifteenth from the last instar and the claspers and external genitalia of the male are apparent in about the eighth from the last instar.At each moult there is some structural change in the nymph adapting it to the environment. The environmental relation is being constantly changed by increase in size of the organism, thus necessitating these adaptations to preserve an equilibrium.