INTRODUCTION xi 



may be driven to the old and not exactly 

 scientific method of catching his fly and en- 

 deavouring to match it from the nondescript 

 medley of patterns reposing in his fly-box. 

 The next stage is to apply to the living 

 insect the name of the composition of fur, 

 quill, and feathers which it most nearly re- 

 sembles, and hence we get the confusion which 

 exists in the fishermen's nomenclature, and the 

 indiscriminate application of the names of 

 trout-fly patterns to the actual insect. Hence 

 comes the historical hatch of wickham's fancy, 

 the mystic blue dun which, like the sea-serpent, 

 is frequently reported but never brought to 

 land. Hence comes the never-ending contro- 

 versy which engulfs the unfortunate Welshman's 

 button, the continual confusing of the yellow 

 sally with the yellow may dun, the uncertainty 

 as to the identity of the february red and the 

 early brown. Many other stumbling-blocks to 

 the unlearned in these matters arise from this 

 unmethodical practice. 



I am therefore inclined to regard such a task 

 as this with the eye of the entomologist rather 

 than that of the fly-fisherman ; and throwing 

 aside such considerations as whether this fly 

 is acceptable to the trout, whether that fly 

 has a bitter taste and is allowed to float away 

 unnoticed, I have attempted to describe the 

 flies which I myself have found in* plenty, and 

 which I think my brother anglers will also 

 meet with by the river's bank. 



The second difficulty arises by reason of the 



