88 FANCY FLIES. 



carry a magnifying glass to the river. But it 

 is not only useful to discover the true colour of 

 the living insect, but to detect on opening a 

 fish upon what fly he has been regaling ; for 

 unless the fish happen to have only just swal- 

 lowed it, you will otherwise find great dif- 

 ficulty in making it out correctly : the digestion 

 of fish is such a rapid process, that the kind of 

 insect becomes undistinguishable in a very short 

 time after entombment in a Trout's gullet. 



I esteem the colour of the fly's body of far 

 greater importance than that of the wings ; at 

 least I have found it so, probably because the 

 body is first presented to the fish's observation, 

 as being nearest to him ; and of those which 

 may be called flat-winged (in contradistinction 

 to others which have their wings upright when 

 in a state of repose) he can scarcely perceive 

 any wing at all, as it is close upon the hack of 

 the fly. 



What may appear the right colour when 

 looking down upon it, may be found quite 

 wrong when viewing it between the eye and 



