BEETLES, &.C.—COLEOPTER A, &c. 57 



It is an excellent " fly " in the early part of the season 

 — I have known trout to refuse a March brown, a blue 

 dun, and other favourites, and yet take the water 

 cricket freely. 



Of beetles generally, I should say that they are 

 most useful on sunny days, when there is no particular 

 rise of flies going on, and when fishing still glassy 

 water. I have at times done exceedingly well with 

 them — to be successful, however, they must be dressed 

 small, except for very deep water. They float well, 

 and shy old trout which know the appearance of many 

 artificials will, at times, fall a prey to one of the 

 beetles. 



It may be that even trout tire at times of the 

 succulent dun, and are then tempted to their undoing 

 by the opportunity of indulging in a more substantial 

 morsel. 



If, when trying a beetle, the result is a number of 

 wild splashing rises, it shows that interest has been 

 excited, and a change to a smaller beetle, or even to a 

 dun, and going over the same water, will frequently 

 achieve success where before not a rise was to be 

 obtained. 



The cochy bondhu has been a favourite lure from 

 time immemorial, but few seem to have a clear idea as 

 to what the natural beetle is really like, and surely, the 

 ordinary dressing is very far removed from being a 

 close imitation of the natural. 



The fact that nature provides so exact a counter- 

 part of the elytra of this beetle, in the tippet feather of 



