THE FLY 79 



called a truism. There is underlying it, however, 

 a fallacy which seriously vitiates the reasoning ; it 

 assumes that the trout possesses an acuteness of per- 

 ception and a depth of cunning which render his 

 deception all but impossible. The assumption is con- 

 tradicted by the experience of the dry-fly fisherman 

 himself. For what do the trout mistake the artificial 

 Alder? If they are the closely observant, acutely 

 reasoning fish they are supposed to be, they cannot take 

 it for the original, for they find it in a situation in which 

 the presence of the natural fly would be quite pheno 

 menal, and displaying a vigour and energy of which no 

 winged insect is capable. Is it inconceivable that they 

 should accept it merely because it bears a general 

 resemblance to the objects on which they habitually 

 subsist ? 



If the dry-fly fisher is sometimes, his wet-fly brother 

 — if one dare suggest the relationship — is habitually, 

 inconsistent. He takes pains to dress his lures in the 

 likeness of natural insects, and then, without misgiving, 

 presents them to the fish under unnatural conditions. 

 He flatters nature on the one hand and on the other 

 flouts her. He follows her in this direction, and in that 

 pursues a course opposed to all her teaching. The fly 

 he seeks to simulate rides jauntily on the water, the 



