[94] 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Right Fly and the Wrong Wasted Time Science and 

 Sport Beauty of Water-flies Artificial and Natural Flies 

 Wings v. Bodies Mr. Richardson's Flies The Water- 

 flies Ephemera 'and Trichoptera Quotations from 

 'Homes without Hands '--The Ephemera The Tri- 

 chopterse Duration of the Larval Period Transportation 

 of Mayfly Duration of Life of Ephemerae Ephemerae 

 casting their Skins Quotation from Kirby and Spence. 



THE mere possession of a stock of fishing-tackle, 

 be it ever so good, and the ability to use it, 

 is insufficient to make a fisherman. Something 

 further than this is requisite. A knowledge of 

 the habits of fish, and of the natural flies 

 which the collection of artificials in his book 

 are intended to represent, is essential, and with- 

 out this latter his fly-book is but a sealed one 

 to the would-be successful angler. The larger 

 his stock of flies the more helpless and be- 

 wildered he must be as to which to select from 

 it. A little knowledge is better than none. Let 

 us take, for instance, the case of a man who is 

 altogether unacquainted with the natural water- 

 flies. He has, perhaps, been accustomed to fish 



