105 



altered conditions as to the state of the water, every diversity 

 from perfectly clear to dark porter tint being tried. 



Nine different colours or stains of gut in all were experimented 

 on by Mr. Wells viz., "black, dirty olive-green, pea-green; dark, 

 medium, and light neutral tint (copperas and logwood) ; ink-dye, 

 darker and lighter coffee-colored ;" and also the natural gut un- 

 colored or stained in any way with the following results : 



All casting-lines (Americanised " leaders ") are visible when 

 directly over the fish, and in a degree entirely irrespective of their 

 color. Here diameter alone affects the result. 



When viewed obliquely in clear water, all casting-lines are, 

 except at twilight, visible through a stratum of two feet or less, 

 but the color makes considerable difference in their obtrusive- 

 ness. 



Whether the water is shaded or not effects these results 

 but slightly, and the same may be said of a gloomy or lowering 

 sky. 



The underside of the surface of the water forms the back- 

 ground against which the line is viewed, and as the line contrasts 

 or harmonises with the apparent color of this, so is it more or less 

 conspicuous. On the surface of the water the bottom is reflected ; 

 and its colour modifies, in a degree diminishing as the depth 

 increases, that received from the sky. 



With clear water, the black stain was invariably the first to 

 be seen, closely followed by dark olive-green and the dark 

 neutral tint. 



At any time of the day, and with any light, the black could always be 

 seen through a stratum of water which utterly eclipsed the lighter tints ; and 

 this was equally true of the olive-green and dark neutral tint, except that in 

 the twilight they appeared to less disadvantage. 



When the rays of the sun fell perpendicularly, or nearly so, upon the water 

 say from ten to three o'clock nothing gave a better general result than un- 

 colored gut. True, occasionally it shone like silver, and then nothing could 



