Flies and Hooks. 97 



Whether the full blaze of an unclouded sun fell on the 

 water, or whether the sky was like lead and the hour 

 late, at all times and under all circumstances light colors 

 were far more consjsicuous than dark. This was to be ex- 

 pected. All non-luminous opaque bodies are visible solely 

 by reflected light, and the more perfect the reflecting 

 surfaces, the more light will reach the eye, and the more 

 visible they will be. The silver bodies of the Silver 

 Doctor and Silver Gray were the most obtrusive, then 

 yellow, including golden-pheasant crests, jungle-cock 

 neck-feathers, the darker color of golden-pheasant tippets, 

 reds, browns, and blacks, in the order given. With a 

 rain-sky, only the butt of the brown mallard wing of the 

 Black Fairy where it merged into the gray could be 

 seen at three feet, while all but the wing of the Black 

 Dose disappeared as well. The Fiery Brown could be 

 seen a little farther, and a little beyond this the Butcher 

 disappeared. Those flies having a mixed wing with a 

 golden-pheasant crest topping, or light colors in the body, 

 were at the same time quite visible the entire length of 

 the tank. 



Swan's feather and goat's beard, both dyed yellow, 

 were added to the wing of the Black Fairy, to test their 

 respective values as substitutes for the expensive golden- 

 pheasant crests. Both lacked the peculiar sheen of the. 

 crest, and were thought to be decidedly inferior. 



Mention is hereafter made that objects situate without 

 the water are only visible to fish within a circular area, 



those frequenting the waters in the vicinity of New York City — a 

 rather translucent creature about one and a half inches long, and 

 not materially dififerent, as I am informed, from the shrimp of Eng- 

 land. 



7 



