1 88 Wet-Fly Fishing 



" A Handbook of Angling," by " Ephe- 

 mera " (of Bell's Life in London), pub- 

 lished in 1847, was the next work I con- 

 sulted. It is a charming book. I confess, 

 however, to finding it rather difficult to 

 understand what " Ephemera " means by 

 the "Early Blue Dun." Does he mean 

 the fly which is the subject of so much 

 ink-slinging the common "Blue Dun" 

 the very existence of which Mr. Half or d 

 questions? or does he mean the "Iron 

 Blue " ? Let us examine his own words. 



" Of the true Dun ephemeral flies, the 

 variety is equally endless, from the early 

 'Blue Dun,' which may be considered as 

 the type, through all the gradations of 

 'Iron Blue/ 'Violet Blue/ 'Ashy Grey, 1 

 and ' Pale Blue/ " 



Old David Foster must surely have felt 

 that the " Iron Blue " was at least occasionally 

 confounded with the common " Blue Dun," 

 when he wrote these significant words 



" ' The Iron Blue/ is a distinct species, 

 and is not to be confounded with the 

 ' Olive Dun/ which is double the size." 



And further on he adds this important 

 remark : " The metamorphosis of this fly 

 ' the Iron Blue/ is the Jenny (or Jinney) 

 Spinner. " 



