THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART. I. 



magazine-bag the peacock's feather : and, grounds of 

 such wool and crewel as willmake the grasshopper. And 

 note. That, usually, the smallest flies are the best ; and 

 note also, That the light fly does usually make most 

 sport in a dark day ; and thedarkestand least fly, in a 

 bright or clear day : and lastly note. That you are to 

 repair, upon any occasion, to your magazine-bag ; and 

 upon any occasion, vary and make them lighter or sad- 

 der according to your fancy, or the day. 



And now I shall tell you, that the fishing with a NA- 

 TURAL-FLY is excellent, and affords much pleasure. 

 They may be found thus : the May-fy, usually, 

 in and about that month, near to the river side, 

 especially against rain: the Oak-Jlty, on the butt or 

 body of an oak or ash, from the beginning of May to 

 the end of August ; it is a brownish fly, and easy to be 

 so found, and stands usually with his head downward, 

 that is to say, towards the root of the tree* : the 

 small black-fly, or Hawthorn-Jly y is to be had, on 



f Compare this Once more, my good brother . I'll speak in thy ear', 

 with what is said Hogs, red coivs, and beards wool, tof oat best, appear , 

 at the end of Wai- And so doth your fur, if rightly it fall : 

 ton's Preface. JBut always remember, make two, and make allf . 



A specimen of Mr. Barker" 1 * poetry ! 



* The Oak fly is known also by the names of the Ash-fly and 

 the Woodcock-fly : and in Shropshire it is called the Cannon or Down- 

 hill-fly. Bowlker, in his Art of Angling, page 63, says ; " This fly, 

 *' as I have lately been informed by a gentleman of veracity, is 

 " bred in those little balls which grow on the boughs of large oaks, 

 commonly called oak-apples; which he accidentally discovered, by 

 " opening several of these balls which had been gathered in the 

 " winter and brought into the house ; in each of which was found 

 " the cannon-fly, some of which, being enlivened by the warmth 

 " of the room, immediately took flight, and fixed in the window 

 ** with the head downwards, the position they observe on the trees." 



This discovery, by which the formation of galls is accounted for, 

 as well as the substances above mentioned, was made long ago by 

 the sagacious Malpighi; who had, with great diligence, attended to 

 the operations of insects in the act of depositing their eggs: and, in 

 his treatise DC Gal/is, he describes the hollow 'instrument, wherewith 

 many flies are provided, with which they perforate the tegument of 

 leaves, fruits, or buds, and through the hollow of it inject their eggs 

 into the wounds which they have made, where, in process of time, 

 they hatch and are nourished : and this he beheld one pf those in- 

 sects doing in the bud of an oak, See Malpighi, de Gallis, page 47. 

 See also Dr. Plot's History of Staffordshire^ 224. 



