COLLECTING, 107 



they appear to be possessed of untiring wings; it is a 

 beautiful thing to behold one of the larger species hovering 

 over a pool with quivering wings, intently watching for 

 prey, then to see it soar aloft, sailing backwards and for- 

 wards, round and round, until nearly lost to sight, and 

 then to mark its descent with the rapidity of an arrow to 

 within a yard of the surface of the pool, where it will 

 hover as before. For such a daring fly as this no instru- 

 ment but the clap-net can be used with much probabiHty 

 of success, and great patience on the part of the collector 

 is requisite ; pursuit would be of no avail whatever ; his 

 only chance is to wait silent and motionless : the fly will 

 approach nearer and nearer, until every mark on liis beau- 

 tiful body is distinctly visible : as if attracted by curiosity 

 he will circle slowly round the head of the hunter, at last 

 hovering over the pool immediately before his face ; now 

 is the time for an instantaneous stroke ; great activity and 

 absolute perfection in the use of the weapon are re- 

 quisite ; the eye should measure the exact distance, and 

 strike rather beyond the object; if the stroke fail, the 

 hunter may as well abandon the pursuit, his game will be 

 too wary to give him a second chance. There are many 

 species of smaller slender-bodied dragon-flies, frequenting 

 ditches and water-plants, which have a languid and feeble 

 flight, and are taken without trouble. The May-flies or 

 caddews, stone-flies, &c., frequent watery places, consti- 

 tuting the principal food of fish, and the angler would do 

 well to study attentively their different forms and times of 

 appearance, with a view to manufacture their hkenesses ; 

 this has been in a degree attempted, and our fishing-tackle 

 shopkeepers make up queer tilings to which they give the 

 name of flies : it is said that trouts sometimes rise to these 

 nondescripts ; if this be true they must possess a much 

 greater development of the organ of inquisitiveness than 



