30 LIST OF FLIES. 



a stiff hen hackle. 



The stone fly brood commence hatching the begin- 

 ning of May, and continue for three or four weeks 

 the time when they may be got and by the middle of 

 July the generation is swept off for the year. Some 

 few, which are generally rather less in size, hatch this 

 month in advance of the main body which generally 

 appear in these waters about the eighth of May ; and 

 the latest that have been seen, were on the fourteenth 

 July when the flyfisher may wish her good bye. She 

 is the head of her own class, and the Imperial Empress 

 of all trout flies ; her size and nutritious qualities, 

 whereof the trout feeds to satiety, and it is said per- 

 fects his condition, has no equal. Her name is 

 famous among anglers ; but few arrive to the extent of 

 her merits. She comes out of the water during the 

 day, and creeps to concealment under stones by its side 

 hence the origin 'of her name ; and where she may 

 be found. Her grizzly brown appearance is dull, and 

 she is unseemly to the sight ; Nature's brilliant touches 

 are not there ; and, as if conscious of her plainness, 

 she shuns the light, and is seldom seen by day ; after 

 sunset she comes out, for her sports and enjoyments 

 are chiefly in the dusk and twilight of night and 

 early morn ; the whole family are then in motion fly- 

 ing about running among the stones, and paddling 

 upon the waters. It is then she feeds the trout, and 

 gives the last finish of perfection to that beautiful fish. 

 Her unpolished colors are the same as his ; she feeds 

 him from her infancy : the creeper at the bottom and 

 the fly at the top of the water, are both his favorite 

 food, and she unconsciously meets him in the height 



