64 VARIOUS FLIES HYMENOPTERA, &c. 



Fig. 90 is another of the hemiptera, getting on the 

 water in numbers under similar conditions. Its delicate 

 combination of green and red suggested a fly which 

 has been described by some as a " marvel," it certainly 

 deserves to be classed as " useful." 



Fig. 91 is the largest of the spit insects, or frog 

 hoppers. In the autumn it jumps off the marginal 

 plants into the water in great numbers, and frequently 

 the fish rising along the edge, are quietly taking this fly. 



The only fly shown on this plate which has a true 

 aquatic history is the alder fly, and yet all the others 

 are continually met with at the waterside, and there 

 are slack times when considerable success may even 

 attend the use of an uncommon fly. 



There may be a north or east wind, or the hatch 

 of aquatic insects may be stopped by a fall of tempera- 

 ture, then the long shore insects, deprived of their 

 customary alertness and briskness by the cold and 

 lack of sunshine, are carried over and drop on to the 

 water, the fish being only too glad to supplement their 

 food supply with these unaccustomed dainties. 



The appearance of a strange insect on the water 

 immediately stimulates the curiosity of the fish, and if 

 an imitation is only really life-like, and offered in a 

 presentable manner, it will command a measure of 

 success. 



The sockdolager, in his reedy haunts, has a know- 

 ledge of entomology, which would put to shame that 

 of most anglers, and no doubt considers himself a 

 connoisseur in the matter of insect dainties. 



