86 FANCY FLIES. 



craft," should be a close observer of nature in 

 lier insect creation, he is frequently no more of 

 a naturalist than to see the distinction between 

 a Trout and a Grayling. The multitude of 

 Gnats and Mido^es flutterinoj over a stream 

 escapes his notice, nay, often eludes the more 

 practised eye of him who may be called the 

 naturalist-angler, in contradistinction to the 

 fisher, whose faith is founded on the interested 

 dictum of the fly-seller, and the dogmatism of 

 those who acknowledge only a few well-known 

 insects. In this brief preface to Part lY., I 

 wish principally to disabuse the reader's mind of 

 any erroneous notions he may have formed of 

 the fancy flies. In Plate Y., Nos. 6. and 11., 

 for instance, with the Gnats, No. 9., are imita- 

 tions of the natural insect, and which abound 

 in most streams. No. 9. I have sometimes 

 seen used by others, the rest never; though 

 towards evening No. 11. is, from the end of 

 April through the summer, excellent. 



. There is one colour which enters far too 

 sparingly into the composition of our flies ; and 



