THE SYSTEM OF ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 21 



more than by the " colourists," and the result, as 

 regards the former, is that they are obliged fre- 

 quently to use a fly professing to be an exact imi- 

 tation of the March brown, for example, and having 

 no other advantanges but such supposed resem- 

 blance, which is only about half, or a third even, of 

 the natural size ! This one fact, which is undeni- 

 able, is of itself almost a sufficient refutation of 

 the " exact imitation" theory. 



Under my system, in which the flies are typical 

 and not specific imitations, the size can always be 

 adapted to the size of the water, without any loss 

 of imitativeness. 



The foregoing observations, of course, fully 

 hold good as applied to Grayling ; and the 

 three flies referred to will be found, taking the 

 season through, to kill more fish than the many 

 varieties now generally used. 



This then is, in my belielf, the true theory of 

 artificial Trout-flies ; not by any means as I ori- 

 ginally conceived it for first theoretical concep- 

 tions are almost always more or less crude and im- 

 perfect but the theory as ultimately elaborated, 

 examined by the light of the theories of others, 

 and worked out, tested and re-testqd by myself 

 during many years' practical experience of fly- 



