214 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



I have humbly ventured to suggest has nothing in 

 common with the nation (Welsh), nor with that 

 particular form of fastening (button) which is in 

 modern times applied to a particular method of 

 closing the garments we wear. Eminent and per- 

 sistent angling writers have appealed to the authority 

 of comparatively unknown fishermen, natives of or 

 residing in Wales, to support the contention that it 

 is in fact a beetle, and not Sericostoma personatum, 

 one of the Trichoptera or caddis-flies, which has 

 from times almost immemorial been designated a 

 Welshman's button by the Hampshire school of fly- 

 fishers. 



The reader must bear up bravely under the 



infliction of a small dose of 



Description of entomology. Insects or Hexa- 



insects, poda (six-footed) are divided 



into a number of orders and 

 these orders again are subdivided into a number 

 of families. The insects to which the dry-fly 

 fisherman's attentions are devoted are comprised in 

 six families : Ephemertdce, or mayflies, duns and 

 spinners ; Trichoptera, or caddis-flies ; Perlidce, or 

 stoneflies ; Sialidce, the sole British example of 

 which is the alder ; Diptera, which include the 

 smuts or curses and the so-called black gnat ; and 

 Hymenoptera, which are represented by the ants. 



The chief characteristics of all insects are as 

 follows : The body is divided into three regions — 

 the head, thorax and abdomen. The thorax is 



