FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 301 
I know more than one trout stream where the May fly has dis- 
appeared within the last ten years, and have heard of sundry 
others. Of course this implies a diminution of the average 
weight of the fish in such streams, supposing their number the 
same. A fortnight’s steady feeding on the grey and green 
drake used formerly to produce a marked improvement in the 
weight of the trout as well as in the colour of their flesh, so that 
those taken in the latter half of June with the black gnat or 
red-spinner were altogether a ‘superior article.’ Now, the 
larger fish are not at their best till the end of July or beginning 
of August, and the number of those which never get into con- 
dition during the fishing season, but remain, like the Ancient 
Mariner, ‘Jong, and lank, and brown,’ is steadily increasing, 
except in a few favoured reaches where there is a good depth 
of water with a strong sedgy border. I may remark by the way 
that the Phryganee appear to suffer less from excessive weed- 
cutting than the E¢hemere ; doubtless because their larve crawl 
about more in open spaces, and, from the protection afforded 
by their ‘cases,’ are better able to extricate themselves when 
hauled ashore in a mass of weed. The orl flies and caperers, 
for instance, keep their ground better than the more delicate 
flies of the Caddis family. 
Reverting now to what I have called the twofold problem 
of breeding and feeding an increased stock of trout to meet the 
increased demand, I may state without hesitation that the 
difficulty in breeding fish in sufficient numbers will be far more 
easily overcome than that of feeding them up to a respectable 
size and condition. No doubt the shrinking of our brooks 
already alluded to has damaged many of the best spawning 
grounds, and exposed others in an increasing degree to the 
depredations of that worst class of poachers who destroy the 
fish on the redds. But, on the other hand, artificial breeding 
has for some years past been better understood and more ex- 
tensively practised in the United Kingdom ; and though we 
are still far behind the United States—and probably behind 
Canada—in this department of pisciculture, yet I think the 
