CHAPTER X. 



PISCATORIAL ENTOMOLOGY. 



TO be a moderately successful wielder of the rod 

 may be looked upon as a very desirable 

 accomplishment, nay, more, a laudable ambition ; but 

 beyond mere skill in casting a fly, and killing and 

 landing a fish, a little rudimentary knowledge of the 

 truly scientific, and, consequently, most attractive 

 part of the art, is essential, in order to attain pro- 

 ficiency. 



There are hundreds of tolerably good anglers who 

 are such indifferent entomologists as to be unable to 

 discern the difference between one species of common 

 insect and well-known fly and another ; and, lacking 

 this rudimental knowledge of the insect world, are 

 apt to credit the fish with no greater powers of dis- 

 cernment than themselves a great injustice to the 

 natural instincts of the denizens of the streams. 

 Such delusions are propounded by fourth-rate fol- 

 lowers of every branch of the arts and sciences. 

 That educated English trout can and do distinguish 

 the most trivial difference in both attitude, size, 

 and colour, is a truism well-known and readily 

 acknowledged by all fishermen of experience. The 

 complicated, and ever-extending fly list of the leading 



