TROUT FLIES, 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL. 



Before proceeding to give my selection of trout 

 flies, I would wish to observe how these flies are 

 bred, and the successive appearances they present 

 in their change from one state to another, which 

 will assist you to account upon philosophical prin- 

 ciples for various phenomena occurrent in angling, 

 which tend to confuse the ideas of superficial ob- 

 servers. 



If in the middle of winter you lift a stone from 

 the bottom of the river, you may perceive on the 

 under side of it numbers of small cases, formed of 

 mud-particles, cemented by a glutinous substance 

 into a consistency like brown paper; by pressing this 

 case you will see that it contains a dark green mag- 

 got, or chrysalis of the future water-fly.* These are 



* We have lifted hundreds of stones both in winter and early spring 

 for the pnrpose of examining the water flies in their maggot 

 Btate, and even to very small pebbles they are often sticking 

 numerously. The family is greatly varied, both in size and shape, 

 and each kind has its own peculiar covering or outer skin. One or 

 two of the kinds have a somewhat uncanny look, and few but 

 Waltonians would care about handling them. 



