DIVIDING THE WINGS. 79 



lap your silk two or three times tightly close 

 under the wings. They will now lie nearly as 

 represented. To make them do so completely, 

 you divide the fibres exactly in the middle with 

 your dubbing needle, and through the division you 

 pass the silk, and then you wind it round the 

 bottom of the division farthest from you, or that 

 on the right side of the fly, and you bring back 

 the silk, passing it again through the divided wings, 

 and bringing it round and under the bottom of 

 the division which is next to you. You now whip 

 the silk behind the wings, and form the head- part 

 of the fly. Fasten with a couple of slip-knots 

 newly waxed, and clip off the depending silk. 

 Your fly, consisting of tail, body, and wings, is 

 now finished. If your wings are too long, pinch 

 off with your finger nails the unnecessary portion 

 of the tips of the fibres. Pick out your dubbing 

 with your dubbing needle, and make your body 

 taper by taking away parts of the dubbing 

 wherever you see it superfluous. The fly here 

 represented has three visible defects. It has three 

 tails, one of which should have been clipped off; 

 the head is too thick and too long, which might 

 have been prevented by fewer laps of the silk 

 between the wings and the end of the shank; 

 and the wings should be more pointed and equally 

 divided. I have purposely left the defects stand- 

 ing, in order to show how they are to be remedied. 



