134 GOLDEN DAYS 



worms and beetles which contained an 

 unsuspected sting. Yet might he not 

 point a moral to some of our own modern 

 exclusionists on their dry-fly subscription 

 w^aters ? Each year their reports grow 

 worse and worse ; in fact, subaqueous 

 feeding is becoming the rule rather than 

 the exception, and the fish are being 

 fostered in their growing disinclination to 

 take the perfect fly upon the surface. 

 The reason for this state of things is 

 not hard to find. On these waters only 

 the dryest fly is tolerated, and no fish 

 may be taken under a certain size. It 

 naturally follows that during a season, 

 and especially in the time of the Mayfly, 

 a multitude of undersized fish are netted 

 and returned to the water. There were 

 many more that were not landed, but 

 these were taught wisdom upon the 

 river's brim ; they retain painful memories 

 connected with flies that float. The 

 chalk-stream trout is no fool. He is 

 learning his lesson only too well. A 

 further season will see many fish coming 

 short, and more bulging at the ascending 

 larvse, or grubbing in safe content among 



