386 ikings of tbe 1Rofc, IRffle, anfc (Bun 



lobsters when he described that crustacean as " the 

 cardinal of the seas." 



John had a theory, too, about trout-flies which, though 

 ingenious, will hardly be endorsed by the modern 

 practical angler. This is how he puts it : 



" The grand mistake of all the authors I have seen on 

 fly fishing is their supposition that the flies are alighting 

 on the water from above, whereas, could they catch up 

 the idea, or be persuaded when told, that the flies rise to 

 the surface from the bottom where they are bred, sheets 

 of useless speculation might be saved ; such as about 

 making your cast of flies alight softly on the surface, like 

 living flies alighting from the air above, etc. Water flies 

 do arise from the surface occasionally (as well as for 

 sexual contact, like midges, bees, and birds such as 

 nipes and swallows), and sometimes alight on it after. 

 One in a thousand may do this, and on alighting be met 

 by a ready trout ; but this is rather an accidental 

 alighting than a general case, as the trouts are really 

 rather feeding on those arising from the bottom upwards, 

 while those ascending into the air are done with the 

 water, not requiring to return." 



I wonder what worthy John would have said to the 

 present-day " dry-fly " fisherman, and how he would have 

 accounted for the success which attends the exponents 

 of that theory ! 



I have already referred to John's skill as a fly-dresser 

 and to his five flies, "conceived to resemble the five 

 pristine colours of the rainbow or the five human senses." 

 To these he added a sixth, a most killing one, which he 

 thus describes : 



