194 GOLDEN DAYS 



imitate form. If form is our first con- 

 sideration, transparency must come next, 

 and here the shop patterns often fail us, 

 reproducing the transparent portions of an 

 insect's body by material which, though 

 it looks right in colour and tone when seen 

 in downward bird's-eye view, is opaque and 

 quite untrue when held against the sky. 

 Indeed, there are certain insects with such 

 delicate and translucent portions in their 

 bodies that it is, perhaps, best to omit these 

 sections by means of gaps, tying only the 

 obvious and strongly defined parts, such 

 as the head and shoulders, and leaving the 

 more subtle parts to the trout's imagina- 

 tion. Thus is the silhouette preserved. 

 After all, every object is recognised 

 primarily by its form. We know the 

 giraffe by his long neck, the pig by his 

 gross and rounded outline. These could 

 not be confounded were they painted black 

 or whitewashed. The same rule holds good 

 in the insect kingdom. The narrow- 

 waisted wasp could never be mistaken 

 for the fuU-paunched bumble-bee, how- 

 ever unusual in size or colour. Cannot 

 the same theory of form be applied 



