246 ONE FLY AS GOOD AS ANOTHER, 



the ordinary aquatic flies. I think most people will 

 agree with me, when I consider it is rather forming too 

 high an estimate of the piscine mind, to suppose that 

 either Mr. Salmo Salar, or his cousin Mr. Eriox, are 

 endowed with such a strong power of memory, as to re- 

 collect precisely the exact shade of colour, to the tint 

 of a hackle, of their favourite flies, for so long a period 

 as some ingenious fly-dressers would have us believe. 

 My theory is simply this, that both salmon and eriox take 

 the fly, merely from an instinctive propensity to seize 

 upon any small object moving in the water that pre- 

 sents an appearance of life, and that is tempting enough 

 in appearance to be worth the trouble of pursuing. Hence 

 it is my opinion whether right or wrong I will leave 

 wiser heads than mine to determine that it is not 

 necessary to dress salmon-flies according to any parti- 

 cular rule or standard, as in trouting-flies, and that one 

 style or colour is quite as good as another, provided the 

 colours are sufficiently gaudy, and neatly contrasted. 

 Therefore, I believe, that were I to spread my dressing 

 materials in order, and commence fabricating a fly 

 totally differing in the arrangement of the colours from 

 any that had hitherto been seen, I would stand quite as 

 good a chance of killing fish with it, as if it was a fac- 

 simile of the most celebrated fly ever busked for the 

 thousandth time by O'Shaughnessy himself. 



To pretend that the efficiency of the fly depends 

 upon its being dressed according to a certain prescribed 

 pattern, when it cannot possibly be the representation 

 of a being which is not in existence, is simply absurd ; 



