FLIES AND KNOTS. 269 



gelatinous ephemerae swim upon the water, the midges 

 are on quiet days the most successful ; and when the sky 

 is bright, subdued colors are in principal demand. 



In June there are prominent, among many others, 

 the black fly, with body, wings, legs and antennae all of 

 the same sable hue, busy the entire day dancing over the 

 water a veritable dance of death, for it is often terminat- 

 ed by the fatal rush of the watchful trout ; a dun fly, 

 with greyish dun mottled wings, grey legs, and light 

 green body ; another fly with similar wings, but red 

 legs, and a -rich brown body none of these having any 

 whisks in their tails ; another beautiful and delicate yel- 

 low fly, that appears generally in the morning and eve- 

 ning, and flies heavily and slowly from place to place, 

 till it falls suddenly, and is forever submerged in the 

 cruel waters. Its legs, body and wings are yellow, the 

 latter being the palest, and it has two short whisks and 

 antennae of the same color. All the foregoing have four 

 wings, in the black and yellow varieties strongly reticu- 

 lated, and all but the last swim well under water. Tow- 

 ard night a frail whitish fly makes its appearance still 

 more fragile than its yellow compeer ; it has two wings, 

 a thick body and long whisks. The eyes of the yellow 

 and white fly are black spots, and although I never have 

 done much with a white fly, a small yellowish drake was 

 successful when the yellow flies were abundant. A bet- 

 ter imitation however could be made of pure yellow. 



On one occasion I was struck with the fact that 

 although I did not know these insects were on the water, 

 my only successful flies were a yellowish fly, a green- 

 bodied, dun -winged fly, and a similar fly with a brown 



