208 Wet- Fly Fishing 



the gradations with which chemistry has 

 of late years made us all so familiar. 



I suggest that this fact has possibly got 

 something to do with the many and varied 

 hues which are occasionally given to the 

 " body," " wings," or " legs," of the various 

 artificial imitations of any one fly. 



But it does not stop here. It goes 

 much further than this; and I think that 

 the day is not very far off and the sooner 

 it comes the better when fly-dressers will 

 be compelled to possess more than a mere 

 rule-of-thumb knowledge, so as to direct 

 their beautiful operations with something 

 approaching to scientific accuracy. Those, 

 in particular, who dress "floating" flies 

 ought to be obliged to pass a judiciously 

 restricted examination in entomology, before 

 they are considered recognized experts, 

 capable of imitating with precision, the 

 natural ephemeridae. 



How to set about such a reform, I really 

 do not know. It seems a problem far more 

 difficult to bring to a practical solution, 

 than the renumbering of the hooks upon 

 which our artificial imitations are dressed. 

 In fact, it seems to be simply honeycombed 

 with difficulties. As a matter of course, 

 the candidate would be tested as to colour- 



