58 THEORETICAL NONSENSE. 



true knowledge into the bargain. There is great 

 philosophy in " Oh, that mine enemy had written 

 a book!" A modern writer (" The Angler's 

 Souvenir") says, " Most books on fly-fishing con- 

 tain long lists of flies, named after the particular 

 insect of which it is pretended they are an imita- 

 tion, but to which they bear so very distant a 

 resemblance, that the most skilful entomologist 

 would be completely at fault in assigning the 

 species. Such lists, for the most part, only con- 

 fuse the beginner, and give him wrong ideas of 

 the rationale of the art, and are not of the least 

 use to the proficient. The greatest number of 

 trout, as is well known to every practical angler, 

 is caught with flies which are the least like any 

 which frequent the water. The imitation of the yel- 

 low May-fly, which is so common on many streams 

 towards the latter end of May and the beginning 

 of June, is scarcely worth admitting into the 

 angler's book ; for when the natural fly is most 

 abundant, and teachers say the imitation is to be 

 used, it is generally good for nothing, as the trout 

 very seldom take it when the real fly is on the 

 water ; but, in direct opposition to the unfounded 

 theory, prefer a hackle, black, red, or brown, or a 

 dark coloured fly. Wherever fly-fishing is prac- 

 tised in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, 

 France, Germany, and America it has been as- 

 certained by experience that the best flies are not 



