80 ARE CERTAIN FLIES EQUALLY 



wishes to fill his creel will do well to act upon the hint, 

 and keep a sharp lookout upon the movements of all 

 the various seasonal flies. The result of his labours at 

 the end of the day will markedly contrast with those of 

 his illiterate brethren, who totally disregard the study 

 of aquatic entomology, and obstinately persist in using 

 flies which have either departed two months before, or 

 will not, in the ordinary course of nature, appear on the 

 the face of the waters for two months to come ; merely 

 because they seem to the eye of the fisher well-dressed 

 imitations of nature, and marvellously like what they 

 ought to be. 



Do then the usual aquatic flies appear in anything 

 like equal numbers in different seasons in a given 

 locality ? and are certain tribes of them always to be 

 found on the water, and held in equal estimation by the 

 fish at corresponding times in different seasons ? 



To this important question I have devoted particular 

 attention, and all my observations tend to satisfy *me, 

 that excepting a few regular standards, such as the 

 March brown ; dun drake ; cow - dung fly ; cranes ; 

 dark, blue, and yellow duns ; red spinners ; yellow 

 Mayflies ; green and grey drakes ; sand-fly, and foetid 

 brown, which mostly appear pretty regularly on or 

 about their usual periods, the majority of the flies in 

 the angler's list will be found to vary exceedingly, both 

 in their numbers and times of appearance, as well as in 

 their popularity with the fish, in different seasons. 

 While in many tribes, a marked difference may be 

 observed both in size and shade of colour, as well in 



