J 8 ANGLING. 



dowed with the perception of disresemblances, we 

 cannot say, but this we know, that possessing the 

 largest collection of insects in Scotland, we recently 

 desired to be brought to us for examination, the 

 whole stock in trade of an extensive and skilful fly- 

 dresser, and on comparing his collection with our 

 own, we could not find a single specimen in the one 

 which' in any reasonable way tallied with a single 

 individual in the other. We really could not help 

 it. We had no personal interest to maintain, and 

 were influenced solely by a love of knowledge. 

 We desired to ascertain the fact, and having ascer- 

 tained it, we now state it, meaning no offence. 

 But as it is actually true, that flies made of fur and 

 feathers, with silken heads, golden ribs, worsted 

 bottoms, hair legs, and steel tails, bear no resem- 

 blance to winged insects instinct with life, and 

 composed, in their own slight way, of flesh and 

 blood (without bones), we cannot conceive why 

 our beloved brethren of the angle should persist in 

 the belief, that their success depends on the special 

 likeness which their own garish gear bears to any 

 fixed familiar form of insect life. That the success- 

 ful practice of the art depends, at least at times, in 

 some small measure on the choice of flies, is ad- 

 mitted, for we know that determinate relations 

 exist between artificial flies of a certain colour, and 

 particular conditions of a river as to size and 

 season ; but these relations are rather connected 

 with angling as a peculiar art (ars celare artem), 

 than as bearing reference to any special analogies 

 of nature. 



