EVOLUTION OF THE TROUT FLY. 177 



The body of floss silk did not come in till later. 

 The detached body, such a favourite with early 

 dry fly fishers, but now rarely seen, is first 

 described and figured by Blacker. 



During the second half of last century fly 

 tying differentiated. It was realised, slowly at 

 first, that sunk patterns would not do for 

 floaters, and still more slowly that floaters were 

 little use sunk. Who first dressed a fly to float 

 is uncertain, but both Ogden of Cheltenham 

 and Messrs. Foster of Ashbourne were selling 

 them in the fifties if not earlier. The first 

 directions are in Ogden's Fly Tying in 1879. 

 Seven years later Halford's Floating Flies 

 came out, far in advance of anything seen 

 before : it was and remains the standard work. 

 Since then many admirable books have 

 appeared, and the dry fly has been specialised 

 more and more, until we get the exquisite 

 creations we use to-day. Specialisation, too, 

 has not only produced flies differing from sunk 

 patterns : it has gone further, and the different 

 sexes and states of the natural insect are also 

 copied. Instead of being content with the old 

 Blue Dun and Red Spinner, the modern fisher- 

 man must have his Olive Nymphs, his Olive 

 Duns male and female, his Red Quills and his 

 Spent Olives of either sex. And I am bound 

 to say that there is a use for all of them. Nor 

 have sunk patterns been neglected. Much has 

 been done, and it is to be hoped that Mr. Skues, 

 who knows more about underwater happenings 



