122 
THE SUBSTITUTE. 
is blank. The author of ‘ Glau- 
cus,’ in the third edition of that 
channiug book, has dwelt upon 
this want in reference to the 
PhryganidcB, and has suggested a 
plan for supplying it, which we 
should like to see followed with 
regard to other Orders, each indi- 
vidual working out one or more 
Families. Here are his words ; — 
“ I said just now that happy was 
the sportsman who was also a na- 
turalist, and having once men- 
tioned these curious water-flies I 
cannot help going a little further, 
and saying, that lucky is the fish- 
erman who is also a naturalist. 
Among gentlemen-fisherinen so 
deep is the ignorance of the natu- 
ral fly, that I have known good 
sportsmen still under the delusion 
that the green May-fly comes out 
of a caddis-bait, the gentlemen 
having never seen, much less 
fished with, that most deadly bait 
the ‘ Water-cricket,’ or free creep- 
ing larva of the May-fly, which 
may be found in May under the 
river banks. The natural history 
of these flies has not yet been 
worked out, at least for England. 
The only attempt, I believe, in 
that direction is one made by a 
charming book, ‘ The Fly-fisher’s 
Entomology,’ which should be in ' 
every good angler’s library. But 
why should not a few fishermen 
combine to work out the subject 
lor themselves, and study for the 
interests, both of science and their 
own sport, the Wonders of the 
Bank? The work, petty as it may 
seem, is much too great for one 
man, so prodigal is Nature of her 
forms, in the stream as in the 
ocean. But what if a correspond- 
ence were opened between a few 
fishermen, of whom one should 
live — say, by the Hampshire or 
Berkshire chalk-streams ; another 
on the slates and granites of 
Devon ; another on the limestones 
of Yorkshire or Derbyshire ; ano- 
ther among the yet earlier slates 
of Snowdonia, or some mountain 
part of Wale.s ; and more than one 
among the hills of the Border and 
the lakes of the Highlands. Each 
would find (I suspect) on com- 
paring his insects with those of 
the others, that he was exploring 
a little, peculiar world of his own, 
and that, with the exception of a 
certain number of typical forms, 
the flies of his country were un- 
known a hundred miles away, or, 
at least, appeared there under v 
great differences of size and 
colour ; and each, if he would 
take the trouble to collect the cad- * 
discs and water-crickets and breed 
them into the perfect fly, in an 
aquarium, would see marvels in 
their transformation, their in- 
stincts, their anatomy, quite as 
great (though not perhaps as 
showy and startling) as I have 
been trying to point out on the 
