256 AMERICAN FISHES. 



the gray, cream-colored, or mealy moths ; of these I prefer a large 

 white-winged moth with a black body. In many waters some of the 

 coppery-golden and green peacock herls are found to kill well, and 

 last season, 1848, nothing was so successful on Long Island as the 

 scarlet ibis with a gold tinsel body. For my own fancy, however, 1 

 decidedly prefer the hackles of almost every color and variety, from 

 the ginger, through all the shades of cock, grouse, partridge, wood- 

 cock, up to jet black ; and my favorite cast is a coch-a-bondu or soldier 

 palmer for my stretcher, a ginger hackle or-blue dun for my second, 

 and a black palmer or a dotteril hackle for my first dropper. The 

 accompanying plate of flies are many of the best and most beautiful 

 varieties, and there is not one of them which at some time or another 

 I have not proved to be killing. All these, as also the large gaudy 

 lake flies, marked No. 2 on the plate preceding this, which very nearly 

 resembles the Salmon-fly except in size only, and are deadly indeed 

 to the Trout of the Adiroudach waters, were all prepared expressly for 

 representation in this work by Mr. Conroy, and are not, in my opinion, 

 to be surpassed. 



Beyond this I shall say nothing on the score of flies, nor shall I enter 

 into any minute and elaborate descriptions of these or other varie- 

 ties, with which most books on fly-fishing abound, iisque ad nauseam ; 

 for I am satisfied that such descriptions must be entirely unsatisfactory 

 and useless to the fisherman, who should attempt to tie flies by their 

 aid, without other and more practical instruction ; and they are so 

 well-known to all anglers, and to all tackle-makers, by their names, 

 that they can be readily and unmistakeably ordered by letter, and 

 obtained at any distance, from any of the large cities. The following 

 vignette is a representation of two well-known Ephemerae, the com- 

 mon Green Drake or May-fly, and the Stone-fly, in their embryo and 

 perfect stages. 



In progress of this subject, I take the liberty of quoting, from Dr. 

 Bethune's very beautiful edition of Walton's Angler, the following 

 paper, which was drawn up and contributed to that work by myself, 

 on the Trout-fishing of Long Island, at the request of the accomplished 

 author. It contains every tiling that I knew or could collect at that 

 time on this branch of the subject, and as I rest well-assured that my 

 borrowing it will in nowise injure or interfere with that beautiful and 



