ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 60S 



sraootli with hackle closely wound at the head, the upper part of 

 the hackle representing the wings, the lower the feet. This is what 

 the old authors call a " fly-made buzz." a fly with its wings in rapid 

 motion. It imitates some small flies with heavy drooping wings as 

 •hey flutter over the surface of the water. 



" In imitating insects the size of the fly must correspond with 

 the size of the insect, that the fly, when made, will be of the same 

 oize as the insect imitated. All nondescript flies should be of the 

 same size as the natural inhabitants of that particular stream they 

 are thrown on. 



" It is a strange but peculiar fact in insect economy, that the 

 small streams have a small sized insect fauna and the larger streams 

 a correspondingly larger. They are not the same identical insects, 

 but sometimes closely allied species. I will here state for the 

 benefit of the uninitiated in bug lore, that insects, when they have 

 assumed the perfect or winged form, no matter how long the term 

 of life is afterward, never change, never grow. 



" The waters of the United States and Canadas, homes of the 

 SalmonidcE family, may be classed-in three or more general divis- 

 ions, each with its own well-defined insect fauna. The first of 

 these we will consider are Head Springs. In these the water is 

 of a uniform temperature ; their even flow the least disturbed 

 from rains, snow water, and freshets ; the birthplace of the trout, 

 and the richest in insect life. The water is at all times swarming 

 with animalculse, the wonderful reproduction of these diminutive 

 orders supplying food for the larger, and they in turn for the fish. 

 Insects leave these waters about a month earlier than they do other 

 streams. The first that present themselves are of the family Chi- 

 ronomidcE, belonging to the order Diptera. Tj:ie chief distinguish- 

 ing characteristic of this order is their having but two wings — all 

 other orders have four. The larvee are long, slim, worm-like, some 

 a blood red color. They are aquatic, or rather they live in that soft 

 mixture of mud and water, with its slimy growth of vegetation 

 offering a treacherous foothold to the investigator, where sinking 

 lower and lower they feel as if they would soon be exploring that 

 region no one wishes to know of. When ready to change to pupas, 

 they bury themselves deeper in the mud. The outer skin hardens, 

 and to all appearance, they are at rest, but really preparing for a 

 most wonderful metamorphose. From its changes the body con- 

 tracts in its case, leaving a sort of vacuum, so that when it finally 

 wriggles itself out of the mud into the water it floats to the surface. 

 The case slits open above the thorax and the fly comes out. Of 

 these there are five that appear in such quantities that they may be 

 preeminently distinguished as fish food. They are piscatorially 

 named black, dark claret, bright claret, grey, and olive gnats. 

 These insects are double brooded, that is, the cycle of their life is- 

 repeated twice every year. Their first exodus, if the weather is 



