The Dry-Fly in Its Infancy 



way," so that they "floated longer on 

 the surface of the water after being 

 cast than the ordinary wet fly." But 

 in reading Mr. G. P. R. Pulman's 

 "Vade-Mecum of Fly-Fishing for 

 Trout," published in 1851, I came 

 across what seemed to be a descrip- 

 tion of our present-day theory of the 

 dry-fly. This subject, I have since 

 learned, was mentioned in a much 

 smaller edition of Mr. Pulman's work, 

 published in 1846. In the summer of 

 1911, 1 wrote to Mr. R. B. Marston, of 

 London, asking for information about 

 the early history of the dry-fly in Eng- 

 land, and he in turn consulted Mr. 

 William Senior, the well-known "Red 

 Spinner" of angling literature. Mr. 

 Senior referred to Mr. Pulman's book 

 as containing the first mention of the 

 dry-fly of which he was aware, but 

 added: "I am now away from all my 



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