FLOATING FLIES 69 



of fact, however, many species exhibit only minute 

 differences, and the sexes of the same species show 

 so little variation in general appearance that the 

 trout of the streams we have fished have not yet 

 learned to distinguish between them. Their breth- 

 ren of other rivers and countries may be more 

 discriminating, but for some years to come, even 

 on the most frequented Scottish waters, a copy of 

 the female fly, dun and spinner, will satisfy the 

 trout and all anglers, except the ultra-purist. 



It is as impossible as it is unnecessary to manu- 

 facture an exact imitation of any fly. Can we ever 

 hope to obtain anything even remotely approaching 

 the soft, delicate, segmented body of the dun, the 

 quivering, iridescent wing of the spinner ? Can 

 we give any artificial the tremulous movement of 

 the living fly ? Does not every capture we effect 

 show that the trout must have ignored, though it 

 could not have failed to see, the indispensable 

 addition of hook-bend and barb ? Will a fish over- 

 look such a conspicuous attachment and object to 

 some slight error in shade or size ? 



In an artificial fly we must content ourselves with 

 a superficial resemblance to the real insect, a 

 suggestion rather than a facsimile. There is no 

 reason why we should not strive to attain perfection, 

 even though we know that much less will suffice. 

 We can aim at eradicating obvious defects ; but as 

 long as a hook must be present we cannot eliminate 

 them all, and therefore it seems superfluous to 

 provide copies of male and female of the same 

 species when the difference between them is so 

 insignificant. 



The artificial sub-imago is usually dressed with 



