THE SYSTEM OF ARTIFICIAL FLIES. as 
as regards the flies themselves, though of the utmost 
consequence in another point of view. And this is one 
of the greatest advantages which those who may act on 
the principles here advocated will reap. For nothing is 
more certain than that some waters—usually large ones, 
whether rivers or lakes,—require large flies ; whilst 
small ones, almost equally universally, have to be fished 
with small flies. This necessity cannot be ignored by 
the “formalists” any more than by the “ colourists,” and 
the result, as regards the former, is that they are obliged 
frequently to use a fly professing to be an exact imita- 
tion of the March brown, for example, and having no 
other advantages but such supposed resemblance, which 
is only about half, or a third even, of the natural 
size! This one fact, which is undeniable, is of itself 
almost a sufficient refutation of the “exact imitation” 
theory. 
Under my system, in which the flies are typical and 
not specific imitations, the sizecan always be adapted to 
the size of the water, without any loss of imitativeness. 
The foregoing observations, of course, fully hold good 
as applied to Grayling and Dace; and the three flies 
referred to will be found, taking the season through, to 
kill more fish than the many varieties now generally 
used. 
This then is, in my belief, the true theory of artificial 
Trout-flies ; not by any means as originally conceived— 
for first theoretical conceptions are almost always more 
