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learned professor used the words "living 

 insects/' he did so advisedly that he meant 

 dead insects. Not at all. He has not got even 

 that loop-hole out of which to escape, since 

 he afterwards says, that " fish appear to seize 

 upon an artificial fly, because, when drawn hy 

 the angler along the water, it has the appear- 

 ance of a living insect." Now the whole 

 truth of the matter is, that the professor, 

 great observer of nature and its creations as 

 he unquestionably is, could have no exact 

 means of forming a decisive opinion on this 

 subject. Has he ever balanced himself 

 beneath the water, and observed, with the eye 

 of a fish, the similarity or the dissimilarity 

 that exists between a natural and an arti- 

 ficial fly ? Impossible, for two reasons ; first, 

 because he could never place himself in the 

 position required to make the observation with 

 the necessary accuracy ; secondly, if he did so 

 place himself, he could not see with the eye of 

 a fish. At least, so we routine teachers of the 

 art of artificial-fly making opine. 



Before we come to the authorities about to 

 be cited by each party relative to the question 

 in dispute, we have a few words to say on the 

 three assertions contained in the following 

 quotation : "It [an artificial fly] has the 

 appearance of being a living insect, whose 



