42 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



or he makes them for himself, and, like many another 

 artist, is blind to the imperfections of his own art. 



It is an axiom of Euclid that things which are equal 

 to the same thing are equal to one another, but the 

 flies under observation are so unlike that they have 

 nothing in common save the name — and the possession 

 of a barb. They are far from being equal to one 

 another, and still farther from equality with the same 

 thing. Reference to the Coloured Plate will at once 

 reveal to the reader the difference between them and 

 between any one of them and- the real February Red. 

 Fig. I represents the natural fly ; Fig. 2 the fly as con- 

 ceived by a writer on angling, who, for convenience, 

 may be designated A. ; Figs. 3 and 4 are reproduced 

 with as much fidelity as possible from a recent work 

 by B. Curiously enough the authors referred to are 

 both Scotsmen. 



The members of no species of insect present absolute 

 uniformity of character. While exhibiting a general 

 family resemblance, they vary both in size and colour. 

 One "hatch," too, may differ slightly from another, and 

 in some species of Ephemeridse there is a decided dis- 

 tinction between the sexes. As regards colour, Stewart 

 offered to show to his readers "a Mayfly almost black 

 and a Mayfly almost yellow and of all the intermediate 



