CADDIS-FLIES 261 



years collected a great number, tells me that there are 

 174 known British species, and of these nearly half 

 are or will shortly be arranged in cabinets at the Fly- 

 Fishers' Club. 



The variations among these insects are generally in 

 size and colour, in minor details, such as length of 

 antennae, the number and disposition of spurs on the 

 tibiee, the wing neuration, the form of the palpi, etc. ; 

 all these last matters, which would not concern the 

 practical fly-dresser in reference to making patterns 

 for the dry-fly man, are, however, of the utmost 

 importance to the entomologist in determining the 

 species. It would, to my mind, have been absurd 

 to work out something like twenty patterns of sedge- 

 flies and expect even the most enthusiastic fisherman 

 to carry all of these, especially as the rise at sedge- 

 flies takes place usually just at or after dark, when 

 presumably slight variations of shade or colour could 

 not well be visible to the fish. 



The Welshman's button I treated independently, 

 because since the gradual dis- 

 Welshman's button. appearance of the mayfly it . . 



has become the fly-fisherman's 1 —l—- 

 sheet-anchor during, perhaps, the very best of the 

 season, from the latter end of May to the end of June. 

 To assist the fisherman in identifying the natural 

 insect, I have given in Plate XXVIII a drawing of 

 the male in profile, and in Plate XXIX the female. 

 Nos. 29 and 30 in the set of patterns are imitations 

 of the male and female respectively. 



