THE RIVER-TROUT. 265 



surface of the water, and so becomes much more liable 

 to be disturbed by passing objects, and any unwonted 

 circumstance throwing a shadow or causing reverberation 

 will what is called send a trout down. In these days, 

 with so many rod-fishers, especially those who practise the 

 art of fly-fishing, most of the feeding fish are at one time 

 or another thrown over, either by the fly or by an artificial 

 minnow being presented to its gaze. 



In earlier days these were taken as realities by the fish 

 and seized ; as years passed on, less and less notice was 

 taken of these lures, especially in much-fished rivers ; the 

 perceptive faculties of the trout became more acute, and 

 were transmitted by hereditary descent to their progeny. 

 The power of discriminating the real from the unreal is 

 becoming more and more apparent, and the power of 

 capture more and more difficult. 



Our prophecy made in 1884 (see Preface to " Recol- 

 lections of Fly- Fish ing," &c.) is being fulfilled. Some 

 think that more transparent and finer gut-casts must be 

 used ; others, that a more true imitation of the exact fly 

 must be made. As a rule, artificial flies are not true 

 imitations too many legs, too many whisks or setae, too 

 thick bodies, which are not sufficiently transparent, &c., &c. 

 All these must be modified, and an exact likeness of the 

 natural fly must be placed before the fish, if the fly-fisher 

 wishes to keep the upper hand. 



We do not lay so much stress on fish having been 

 hooked and got away, or of remembering the circumstance 

 for any length of time ; as far as one can judge, the 

 faculty of the memory is not very strongly developed ; so 

 many instances occur every year of fish being caught, some 

 even a few minutes after a struggle for life, and many after 

 a few hours, with the instrument of capture still sticking 

 somewhere in their jaws. But we believe in the increase 

 of other perceptive faculties, particularly in that of vision, 

 and, through that, of knowledge of what is right and wrong, 

 and of what may be on the bank whether an enemy in 

 the shape of man, or a harmless intruder in the shape of a 

 cow or horse. 



