138 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



tant resemblance to any living fly or insect what- 

 ever, though, if exact imitation were an object, 

 there can be little doubt that it could be ac- 

 complished much more perfectly than is ever 

 done in any of the numerous artificial flies 

 made by the best artists in that line of work. 

 The fish, indeed, appear to seize an artificial fly 

 because, when drawn by the angler along the 

 water, it has the appearance of being a living 

 insect, whose species is quite unimportant, as all 

 insects are equally welcome, though the larger 

 they are, as in the case of grasshoppers, so much 

 the better, because they then furnish a better 

 mouthful. The aim of the angler, accordingly, 

 ought to be to have his artificial fly calculated, 

 by its form and colours, to attract the notice of 

 the fish, in which case he has a much greater 

 chance of success than by making the greatest 

 efforts to imitate any particular species of fly." 

 That this statement caused considerable dis- 

 cussion probably because it was made by a 

 professor of zoology is evidenced by the ap- 

 pearance in 1838 of "A True Treatise of the Art 

 of Fly-Fishing," written by those strong advo- 

 cates of the imitation theory, William Shipley 

 and Edward Fitzgibbon, who devoted a whole 

 chapter to controverting the professor's theories, 



