iXM ABSURDITY OP THE TIGER-MOTH THEOKV. 



received notion is the caterpillar of the tiger moth* 

 Arctia Caga, an insect of an inch and a half in length and 

 almost as thick as a pencil. I do not deny that for chub 

 palmers are dressed of that size nearly, but how often in 

 tin- course of a season does the angler himself come across 

 a tiger-moth or his caterpillar either ? Unless he goes 

 out to hunt for them, he may not see a dozen. But 

 suppose he sees double or treble that number in which 

 case he would write to the * Field,' probably, to note the 

 great and unusual abundance of tiger-moths in his 

 locality how many of them, at a fair calculation, will 

 oblige the trout by seeking out the river-side (for the 

 water does not produce them), and having laboriously 

 ascended one of the trees on the bank, and then with 

 careful judgment and nice discrimination having selected 

 the boughs most fitted for the purpose as overhanging the 

 water, relinquish their hold (a pretty firm'one, by the way) 

 for the sole purpose of dropping into the water that they 

 may be gobbled up by the trout below. This is the only 

 way they can get into the water, for a heavy insect like 

 this is not blown about like a fly. I do not mean to say 

 that a variety of caterpillars, as well as beetles and other 

 insects, do not drop from the trees into the water. There 

 are many of them which particularly affect such places 

 and the kind of trees which grow there ; but I do not 

 think the Arctia Caga caterpillar is one of them, gardens 

 being its favourite locality, so much so that the moth is 

 called * the garden tiger.' The percentage of these palmers, 

 therefore, which find their way into the rivers thus must 

 necessarily be very small so small, indeed, as to offer very 

 few opportunities to the trout of ascertaining their flavour ; 

 and it is a very great question if more than one trout in a 

 hundred ever has in his lifetime an opportunity of becom- 

 ing acquainted with it. I can only say that in all my ex- 



