116 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [ART 1. 



fiercely at a Minnow, as the highest mettled hawk doth seize 

 on a partridge, or a greyhound on a hare. I have been told, 

 that one hundred and sixty Minnows have been found in a 

 Trout's belly ; either the Trout had devoured so many, or the 

 miller that gave it a friend of mine had forced them down his 

 throat after he had taken him. 



Now for Flies, which is the third bait wherewith Trouts are 

 usually taken. You are to know, that there are so many sorts 

 of flies as there be of fruits : I will name you but some of them ; 

 as the Dun-fly, the Stone-fly, the Red-fly, the Moor-fly, the 

 Tawny-fly, the Shell-fly, the Cloudy or Blackish-fly, the Flag- 

 fly, the Vine-fly : there be of flies, Caterpillars, and Canker- 

 flies, and Bear-flies; and indeed too many either for me to 

 name or for you to remember : and their breeding is so various 

 and wonderful, that I might easily amaze myself and tire you 

 in a relation of them. 



And yet I will exercise your promised patience by saying a 

 little of the Caterpillar, or the Palmer-fly or worm, that by 

 them you may guess what a work it were in a discourse but to 

 run over those very many flies, worms, and little living creat- 

 ures with which the sun and summer adorn and beautify the 

 river-banks and meadows, both for the recreation and contem- 

 plation of us Anglers : pleasures which, I think, myself enjoy 

 more than any other man that is not of my profession. 



Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth or being 

 from a dew, that in the spring falls upon the leaves of trees ; 

 and that some kinds of them are from a dew left upon herbs or 

 flowers ; and others from a dew left upon coleworts or cab- 

 bages; all which kinds of dews being thickened and con- 

 densed, are by the sun's generative heat most of them hatched, 

 and in three days made living creatures : and these of several 

 shapes and colors ; some being hard and tough, some smooth 

 and soft ; some are horned in their head, some in their tail, 

 some have none : some have hair, some none : some have six- 

 teen feet, some less, and some have none : bi*t, as our TopseJ 



