THE FLY 47 



The author's manner is not that of nature. He 

 adheres too closely to the calendar. His distinctions 

 are absolute. He draws a sharp line of demarcation 

 between the months. The fly which the angler finds 

 attractive on the evening of the 30th of April is ignored 

 by the trout on the morning of May-day. Occasionally 

 we encounter on the list, a fly the seductiveness of which 

 outlasts the month ; sometimes one that, having, for a 

 brief period, ceased to enjoy the confidence of the fickle 

 fish, returns to favour later in the season. The prin- 

 ciple on which the catalogue has been compiled is not 

 easily discovered. There is no difficulty in assigning 

 a season to the natural fly, but what of the fly that 

 owes its being to the angler's fancy ? We are, it is 

 true, assured that the list contains no fly without its 

 prototype in nature, but the assurance is unsupported 

 by the slightest evidence. Is there any available ? If 

 so, it is to be regretted that it has been withheld from 

 us. In disclosing the identity of lures which we and 

 their creators have been accustomed to regard as mere 

 abstractions, its production would provide us with some 

 startling information. The method of our author would 

 be found less arbitrary than, to our ignorance, it appears, 

 and we should discover his occult reasons for the 

 classification of the artificial fly according to a scheme 



