FL Y-FISHING B Y NIGHTLIGHT. 181 



site of the " organ of angling " is actually omitted. 

 No elevation appears there to mark the seat of the 

 "gentle craft." Now, of the existence of such a 

 " bump," in some corner or other of the human brain, 

 no reasonable doubt can be entertained. To the 

 numerous votaries of the craft no appeal on the sub- 

 ject need be made. Though unconscious perhaps of 

 carrying this particular cerebral development under 

 their fishing beaver, they have all felt its excite- 

 ments. Otherwise, how indeed should we be able to 

 account for that spasmodic twitching of the flexor 

 muscles of the hand and forearm to grasp a rod, which 

 we have all experienced, when lakes or rivers cross 

 our path at home or abroad ? The amiable weakness 

 too is often most forcibly felt in out-of-the-way places, 

 where we are least prepared to indulge its promptings. 

 But the " organ " throbs notwithstanding, in un- 

 availing pulsations. As it has occurred doubtless 

 to many others, so has it happened many times to 

 ourselves. Amongst the far-off affluents of the 

 Tagus, and the little brook of Balsain flowing down 

 from the snows of the Guadarama through the green- 

 est of pine-forests to the pleasant summer retreats 

 of San Ildefonso, I have often experienced this 

 Angleomania in full force. The latter rivulet, in- 

 deed, was well calculated to test the activity of the 

 latent "bump," as it gave ocular demonstration of 

 containing the largest number of small trout I re- 



