WATER INSECTS 



75 



occasions. " No fish in the river " is a rash statement 

 to advance because, after one or two visits, no fish have 

 been caught, or possibly seen. A futile visit to a 

 stream and a hasty opinion thus formed may be re- 

 gretted. I remember, by the kindly courtesy of a 

 French landowner in Normandy, taking a day on his 

 stream, in which he told me were many trout. I had 

 been doing well all the week, but on this day I had the 

 poorest luck, and, therefore, hastily concluded that the 

 stream was almost barren of trout. Consequently, on 

 one memorable day on which the May-fly was domi- 

 nant, instead of going with a friend who was fishing 

 this stream, I went farther and fared worse, and found, 

 on meeting my friend in the evening, that he had en- 

 joyed a glorious day's trouting. I still regret losing 

 that excellent day, and consider that, as regards any 

 water, first impressions are not always the soundest. 



WATER INSECTS 



The water insects whose flying appearance is copied 

 by the artificial fly makers are classified as follows : 

 The Ephemeridse, the Trichoptera, the Perlidae, the 

 Sialidse, and the Diptera. In order that the student 

 may be able to tell to which of the above five families 

 the flies he catches in his butterfly-net belong, it will be 

 advisable to remember the following characteristic 

 position of the wings of each family when the fly is 

 alive and at rest. 



THE EPHEMERID^B. The wings rise upward from 



