70 HINTS TO FLY-DRESSERS. 



fly-fishing. Mr. Ronalds gives the natural history 

 -of the angler's flies, natural and artificial repre- 

 sentations of them, and the materials of which 

 they are made. Mr. Slacker's book contains the 

 flies dressed in every stage, from the whipping on 

 of the gut to the last finish of the head. It also 

 contains valuable instructions both for procuring 

 and for dyeing angling materials, as well as an ex- 

 cellent list of trout and salmon flies for different 

 rivers and countries. 



Still we are not perfect in fly-making, nor shall 

 we be so until some more pains -taking fly-dresser 

 gets a collection of natural flies, examines them 

 by means of the microscope, ascertains their pre- 

 cise colours and anatomy, and then by microscopic 

 examination again of feathers, mohair, fur, and 

 so forth, arrives at the exact imitative materials. 

 When that is done, fly-fishing will be reduced to 

 a sporting science exceedingly amusing and in- 

 structive. The journeyman or woman fly-dresser 

 at present is merely acquainted with the mechanical 

 part of the art, dresses from artificial specimens, 

 knows little or nothing of the natural insect, and 

 is rarely a good angler. They are copyists, and 

 do not know whether that which they have to copy 

 is a good likeness of the living subject or not. A 

 fishing-tackle maker, to be a great and good one, 

 should have an insect museum, each fly, cater- 

 pillar, or beetle, preserved in cases, named and 



