46 THE VALE OF GALA. 



those who did not observe the signs of the times, 

 " how is it that we see so many fine trout rising 

 all around us, and not one of them will look at 

 our flies ?" They were busy at other 'Jaw wark,' 

 as the country man said to his landlord, when he 

 presented him with a present of nuts all ready 

 cracked and ready to eat. In fact, it is needless, 

 under these circumstances, to pursue your sport, 

 mayhap, till the evening. And now, I could wish 

 that the history of the stone or May fly had been 

 in better hands than mine. In the first place, 

 then, you will observe in eddies and other slow 

 running and shallow places, bits of stick or straw 

 sticking together and lying at the bottom. These 

 are generally the caddis worm, before it becomes 

 the creeper with a number of legs ; it then 

 creeps toward more stony places and gravel beds, 

 where, as the season advances, it gradually grows 

 larger. During the time this is going forward, 

 it is all the while changing and becoming the 

 stone or May fly, before it assumes its wings. 

 It has, during this time, gradually left the wet 

 places and got under the stones which lie nearly 

 dry, but, at the same time, quite close on the 

 edge of the river. About the end of May, if the 

 season is warm, or, more generally, the beginning 



