WHAT A SALMON-FLY IS SUPPOSED TO BE. 245 



posure of nerve and practice, to enable a greenhorn to 

 avoid occasionally missing his mark giving the fish a 

 sturdy punch in the ribs with the bend of the gaff in- 

 stead of the point. 



SALMON-FLIES AND BAIT. 



What creature the fish suppose a salmon-fly to be 

 is rather a puzzling question ; as it bears no resemblance 

 whatever to any insect that ever roamed the air, except 

 very remotely indeed to a huge overgorged dragonfly. 

 And though the larva of the dragonfly is a permanent 

 inhabitant of the waters, during this stage of its ex- 

 istence being bred and hatched there yet it is never 

 found in running streams, or in such as are frequented 

 by salmon, but always either in standing pools, or, as in 

 the larger species, in the moss-holes on moors ; while 

 the insect, on assuming the perfect state, is invariably 

 in the habit of roaming far away, over the dry heaths 

 and downs, and never goes near the water, except for a 

 transient visit to such stagnant pools as are adapted to 

 receive the ova ; hence it is very improbable that even 

 one salmon out of every thousand ever saw such an 

 insect ; while what little knowledge of insect life this 

 fish possesses, must only be through some faint re- 

 collection of those beings, retained since the period 

 when he was a tiny parr in the river ; as no true insect 

 of any description exists either upon the surface, or in 

 the waters of the ocean, where the greater part of his 

 life has been spent, and he takes no notice whatever of 



