88 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



Even as early in the season as the middle of April 



on a warm calm afternoon the 

 Female olive spinners female olive spinners may be 

 in April. seen dipping and depositing 



their eggs in the water. As 

 explained in the entomological portion of this book, 

 the female spinners or imagines of the Ephemeridai 

 fall on the water soon after they have voided all their 

 eggs, and fish rising at them take quietly and steadily, 

 making little commotion on the surface of the stream. 

 For trout rising under such conditions the female 

 olive spinner No. 1 2 or the female olive (red) spinner 

 No. 13 of the new patterns should be tried, or of the 

 old standards one of the hackle red spinners, the 

 red quills, or detached badger are the most likely 

 patterns. 



McLachlan, in his inimitable " Monograph of the 



Trichoptera of the European 

 The grannom. Fauna," says of the grannom 



{Brachyccnirus stibnubilus) that 

 it is a true spring fly, and that where found it is 

 usually present in countless numbers. In my earliest 

 recollections of the Test I can recall the swarms of 

 this interesting insect from the middle of April to the 

 commencement of May, and realize how true is the 

 description given of it by the late eminent entomolo- 

 gist who made the family to which it belongs his chief 

 study. Since those days it has gradually decreased in 

 numbers and almost disappeared from its old haunts. 

 I can say with truth that during the last nine years I 



