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next to appear. The ink-dyed leader gave very fair results, but still inferior to 

 darker shades. The fact that the uncoloured leader could be always seen at 

 more than double the distance at which the black first began to be visible, 

 illustrates the relative merits of the two. " 



For brown water was next substituted a mixture correspond- 

 ing to the somewhat turbid condition of a stream on the subsi- 

 dence of a freshet. In this medium no gut could be seen through 

 more than eight inches of water even at noonday, and with an 

 unclouded sky. 



To generalise the results of Mr. Wells' experiments : 



For ordinary clear water use uncoloured gut from about 10.30 

 to 3 or 4 o'clock ; before and after these hours, light ink-dyed. 



For meadow-brook fishing, or on water containing green float- 

 ing matter, use light pea-green from first to last. 



For brown or bog-water, a black stain the darker the better. 



If only one colour of casting-line is used throughout the day, 

 in clear water, it should be of the light ink-dye stain. 



As this is going to the printer's I have received from Mr. 

 Wells samples of his light ink-stained gut. The stain is of a per- 

 fectly transparent greeny-bluish tint, and, as he says, is "not 

 darker than that of an unclouded sky." It is obtained by soak- 

 ing the gut in a mixture of one-half water and one-half " Arnold's 

 Writing-fluid " (cold), which can be procured from Messrs. P. and 

 T. Arnold, chemists, 135, Aldersgate Street, London. 



" ' Nothing,' says Mr. Wells, reviewing broadly the preceding varied 

 experiments, ' surprised me more than the difference in obtrusiveness shown by 

 different specimens, so nearly alike in shade and colour in the air as to require 

 careful inspection to distinguish between them. This was marked in compar- 

 ing the ink-dye and the lighter neutral tint (copperas and logwood). The 

 intensity of colour in both was almost exactly equal, while the neutral tint was 

 somewhat duller on the surface. The relative merits of the two can be judged 

 from the fact that sometimes the neutral tint was visible through a foot more 

 water than the other.' " 



" ' For years events have been gradually forcing me towards the opinion 

 that success in jly-fishing (particularly where the fish were educated to the 

 angler's wiles] depended as much upon concealing the connection between the line 

 and the fly as upon any other thing. ' " 



