called the September blue is very prevalent during the whole of autumn. It is very small and nearly white. The iron blue, or Scotchman, is one of the most delicate and beautiful of water flies. It is most abundant, on cold days, from the middle of April to the middle of May, but it is occasionally on the water through the rest of the season. Its imitation is in great repute, being on many rivers what the May-fly is on others one of the best and most favourite flies. Its little body and wings are very dark blue, and its legs yellow. After casting its skin it appears in the very different garb of the white or silver spinner- the imitation of which is chiefly used in summer evening fishing. Of the British ephemeride the largest is E. vulgata the May-fly. This beautiful insect, though totally unknown in many rivers, literally swarms in others. It usually appears towards the end of May, and continues in season about a month. It is greedily taken by trout, which soon give ample proof of its nutritious qualities; and its imitation — particularly if dressed smaller than usual may be very successfully used, especially in windy weather. In its first winged state it is known by the name of the green drake. The female changes to the grey drake, and the male to the black drake-which last is seldom imi tated artificially. It is somewhat extraordinary—and we are not the first to notice the circumstance- that the natural history of the May-fly should be so little understood by many of the best anglers on the rivers on which it abounds. It is generally believed to spring from a cad-case similar to that of the stone fly. The idea is altogether erroneous. These identical species, indeed, are the leading English members of two distinct classes of insects, widely differing from each other, in their structure and habits, during every state of their exist ence. The stone fly belongs to the family Perlida, which is included in the same order as the ephemerida. It is a very large brown insect, in season during April and May, and its imitation is only fished with in windy weather. To the same family belong also the yellow sally, appearing in May; the willow fly-a large insect, though much smaller than the stone fly, and easily recognised by its habit of fluttering about on the surface of the water; and the red fly, which appears in February, or earlier in mild weather, and continues till April. CHAPTER IV. "The rod fine tapering with elastic spring, THOMSON. In the natural order of our piscatorial lessons the selection of the various implements required for the pursuit of our art presents indisputable claims for consideration at this stage of our labours. It may be well to observe that we shall not attempt to give instructions for the manufacture of all the different articles, because such instructions would occupy a great deal more space than would perhaps be commensurate with their utility. Nobody, now-a-day, thinks of becoming his own. rod or reel maker, except professionally. Most of us are too closely engaged with the active duties of life to find time for such a purpose; and those who are not, have rarely the mechanical ability, or, if so, the inclination, to apply themselves to the task. And the necessity for such amateur manufacture is obviated by the facility and comparative cheapness with which every article can now be procured in all parts of the country, in a style of workmanship unmistakably characterised by the extraordinary improvement which the last few years have so conspicuously developed in all our industrial productions, whether ministering to the wants or to the amusements of mankind. Except in the case of flies, therefore, to which these remarks can hardly be so generally applicable, we shall confine ourselves to such a description of the necessary implements as we may consider necessary to enable our pupils to make a judicious selection of them to detect inferiority, and to know what constitutes excellence. We proceed first, then, to treat of the fly-fisher's rod, and then, seriatim, of his tackle, or, as it is called by Dame Juliana Berners, his "harneys,' * This lady was the first angling author, or at least the first who published a printed book on the subject. She wrote that curious production, The Boke of St. Alban's, which was "imprinted" at Westminster, by Wynkin de Worde, the assistant and friend of Caxton. This "Boke" was published originally without "the Treatyse of Fysshinge," which was added to it for the first time in 1496. Dame Juliana, who was eminent for piety and learning, and whose name ought to be held in veneration by anglers in all ages, was prioress of the nunnery of St. Sopwell, near St. Alban's, Hertfordshire, and her "Boke," besides the "Treatyse of Fysshinge" already mentioned, contained and shall conclude this division of our subject, with instructions, in a separate chapter, for the manufacture of artificial flies. These instructions, we trust, will differ from those very generally given in works of this description, in the important particular of being sufficiently simple and complete to effect an object so much oftener attempted than attained, namely, that of enabling a person of ordinary intelligence to acquire from them alone, with moderate application, a practical knowledge of the delightful art. We say this with some degree of confidence, because both the letterpress instructions and the diagrams which illustrate them are the production of practical flymakers, and have been prepared with no little labour and care; and because more than one pupil, possessing not the slightest previous knowledge of the art, have by their aid alone, in manuscript, become what many who manufacture books on angling are not-the makers of a neat and "killing" fly. In the choice of a fly-rod the purchaser must dismiss every idea of a whip, and remember that the great desideratum is power, not pliability, and that stiffness is one of the chief means by which also treatises on 66 'Hawkynge and Huntynge," in verse, and also a treatise on the method of "Blazynge of Armes." |