TO FLYFISHERS. IX. 



flies, made better selections, or discovered more apt 

 materials for dressing ; and he may have paced the 

 pages of nature's unerring volume farther than this can 

 teach ; but it may shorten the labors of the uninitiated 

 in his pursuit after knowledge of the flies, and lead 

 him through the rudiments of the art by the shortest 

 route and truest principles. The natural flies, the 

 theme of this book, are the first and only principals ; 

 they are nature's living patterns, food of the fish, 

 which is the gem of the flyfisher's art to copy; and those 

 who are best acquainted with them may best imitate 

 them, and soonest discover the leading favorites of the 

 fish, with their places of occupation in the waters. They 

 are the fuglemen of the motions of the flyfisher, 

 through the day and through, the season his only true 

 and permanent guides. This feeble guide, this transi- 

 tory book, shall perish ; but so long as rivers run the 

 flies will continue and flourish in their rounds, types for 

 the flyfisher, as in the days of yore, until the great 

 doomsday volume is shut. 



