Mayflies are an order (Ephemeroptera) of over 3,000 species of flying insects, related to dragonflies and damselflies. They are relatively primitive, with ancestral traits that were probably present in the first flying insects, such as long tails, and wings that do not fold flat over the abdomen. Their immature stages (nymphs) live in fresh water. Unique among insect orders, they have a fully winged adult stage that moults into a sexually mature adult. Often, all the mayflies in a population mature at the same time, emerging in the spring, summer or autumn in enormous numbers; some hatchings attract tourists. Mayflies are a favourite food of many fish, and fishing flies are often modelled to resemble them. The brief lives of mayfly adults—less than five minutes for the female Dolania americana, after the final moult—have been noted by naturalists and encyclopaedists since Aristotle and Pliny the Elder. The English poet George Crabbe compared a daily newspaper's lifespan to that of a mayfly in the satirical poem "The Newspaper" (1785).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

619:

Emperor Gaozu allowed the assassination of a khagan of the Western Turkic Khaganate by Eastern Turkic rivals, one of the earliest events in the Tang campaigns against the Western Turks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_campaigns_against_the_Western_Turks

1795:

French Revolution: Under the terms of a new constitution that was ratified during the aftermath of the Reign of Terror and the subsequent Thermidorian Reaction, the Directory succeeded the National Convention as the executive government of France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Directory

1936:

The BBC Television Service launched as the world's first regular, public all-electronic "high-definition" television service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_One

1960:

In the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd publisher Penguin Books was acquitted of obscenity for the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Penguin_Books_Ltd

2004:

Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, whose film Submission was critical of the treatment of women in Islam, was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

paper candidate: An election candidate with little chance of winning, who is added to the ballot for publicity and to increase the number standing. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paper_candidate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Like integrity, love of life was not a subject to be studied, it was a contagion to be caught. And you had to catch it from someone who had it.   --Lois McMaster Bujold https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold