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insect, wliich flutters out its brief existence in but a few 

 liours, clianging- in tliat brief span from olive green lo 

 snowy whiteness, with jet black appendages. Truly, the 

 history and metamorphoses of this fly are the most mar- 

 vellous of the many marvels of the insect woi'ld. AVe will 

 move on to the deep water, which is the stronghold of these 

 big trout that we are especially enjoined to wage war 

 upon. Here, in this bend of the river, on a memorable occa- 

 sion, I killed a brace of three-pounders, and that there are 

 others of equal weight is not open to doubt. Judging fi'om 

 the " boils " one sees, the fish are feeding on the May-fly, 

 under water — intercepting it as it rises from the river bed — 

 and this requires a style of fishing wliich is not very con- 

 genial to the dry-fly man. AVith Ogden's " Gem," tied 

 hackle lashion, the fly is easily pulled under water when 

 fished up stream and it is far and away more deadly in this 

 form than when dangled down stream in the '' chuck-and- 

 chance-it " fashion. A big tail out of water and the rod 

 bent double proclaim the fact that the May-fly battle has 

 begun, and a right royal fight it is, for a seven-ounce split 

 cane rod is but a feeble weapon to be used against trout of 

 aldermanic proportions. Fighting deep down, and boring 

 steadily up stream, the fish appears to be going to give in 

 easily, but suddenly, without a wink of warning, he bolts 

 down stream, like a flash of lightning, and is entangled in 

 a loose bush on the shallows before we can realise the situa- 

 tion. But the bush is too small to afford liim a dead pull, 

 and he tows it about and tugs at it fiercely until, worn out 

 with the unequal contest, he is scooped out, a splendid 

 Darenth trout of two and three-quarter pounds. The fly is 

 now coming down thickly, and the trout give over "bulg- 

 ing " and come to the surface to feed. We quickly increase 

 our score and reach a rude footbridge of timber, where ai 

 good fish is found sucking in the fly as they eddy round h\ 

 the s^^'irl of a post on the up-stream side of this clumsy old 

 structure. Yes, "He's got it," you exclaim, but he has 

 bolted under the arch, and is twenty yards away down 

 stream, fighting desperately for a weed bed ! Oh ! for a 

 good twelve- footer, with plenty of backbone in it ; theso 



