CATERPILLARS 77 



spiders that fall from the trees in a mile 

 of water would not suffice to feed a single 

 pound trout for a single day. They may 

 therefore be discarded from consider- 

 ation." HALFORD'S Dry-fly Entomology, 

 page 138. 



I read this passage with extreme sur- 

 prise, as it absolutely contradicts my 

 personal experience. After thinking the 

 matter over carefully, and trying to make 

 out how it was that Mr. Halford, in the 

 hundreds of autopsies he has made, has 

 never come across a caterpillar, I realised 

 how dangerous it is to make a dogmatic 

 and sweeping statement with the evidence 

 of personal experience only to fall back 

 upon. 



As recently as June, 1897, when fishing 

 with Dr. Charles B. Watson and Mr. A. D. 

 Home, I made with them a series of six 

 autopsies of trout caught consecutively in 

 one morning. The smallest number of 

 caterpillars found in one of these six au- 

 topsies was five, and the greatest, twelve. 

 These trout were all caught under oak 

 trees overhanging the water, which were 

 at that time swarming with small cater- 



