14-2 



flies are constantly hovering over the water," is 

 it not natural to suppose, that when the imita- 

 tion of them drops on the water, the fish take 

 it. since they are pleased to get near them, 

 and within easy reach that which they suppose 

 represents an object "familiar to the view?" 

 In no part of Sir H. Davy's work do we find 

 the " pretended-imitation" principle in any way 

 favoured. On the contrary, we often find such 

 passages as the following : " The true fisher- 

 man's flies, those imitated in our art, &c." Mr. 

 Alfred Ronalds, who certainly is not a routine 

 fly-fisher, but rather of the innovating school, 

 says, after giving a reason for a trout taking a 

 non-rescript artificial fly. that " it furnishes no 

 plea to quacks and bunglers, who, inventing, or 

 espousing, a new theory, whereby to hide their 

 tcant of skill, or spare their pains, would kill all 

 the fish with one fly, as some doctors would 

 cure all diseases by one pill. If a trout rejects 

 the brown hive-bee at the time that he gree- 

 dily swallows the March-brown fly, it is clear 

 that the imitation should be as exact as possible 

 of the last, and as dissimilar as possible to the 

 first." In another passage of the same author 

 Mr. Professor Rennie's heresy is thus combat- 

 ted : "It should never be forgotten, that, let 

 the state of the weather, or the water (in respect 

 of clearness), be what it may, success in fly- 



