THE FLY-FISHER'S ENTOMOLOGY WITH COLOURED REPRESENTATIONS OF . THE NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL INSECT, AND A FEW (OBSERVATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS ON ) TROUT AND GRAYLING FISHING BY ALFRED RONALDS 1 With Twenty Colonred plates NINTA EDITION Devouring Ephemerals! Can you not suffer the poor insects to sport out their day? LONDON 1883 PREFACE. In the Midland Counties, and especially in Derbyshire, the “Fly-Fisher's Entomology” has long been considered an authority; and as the Derbyshire waters have of late years risen in the esteem of the fly-fishers, a new and more complete Edition of the work has been rendered indispensable. In these counties, the streams, though preserved, are thrown open by the liberality of the proprietors; and here the angler, availing himself of the facilities of the rail, may be found enjoying his holiday at many a pleasant country inn, in the county of the Dove, the Wye, and the Derwent. The Blithe, a sweet trout-stream in Staffordshire, close to Cresswell Station, was the scene of 37 X6 3 Ronalds' early experience; on the little bridge, close to the present Station, stood his observatory (p. 5); and though his residence, at a later period in Wales, extended his knowledge of the art, and enabled him to adapt his instructions to the different waters in which he fished, yet the Midland streams are still the proper home of his observations : that Dove, where Cotton erst hung up the thick-bodied fly of more southern counties, “ in his window, to laugh at.” The Author of the present work trusts that it may be considered and judged of as the labour, or rather the amusement, of an amateur, whose chief object has been to facilitate, to the tyro in the art, the making and choice of artificial flies, on a plan of elucidation derived from personal experience. Having himself sorely felt the inadequacy of mere verbal instructions to enable him to imitate the natural fly correctly, or even approximately, and the little utility of graphical illustrations unaccompanied by the principal requisite— colour, he has been induced to paint both the natural and artificial fly from nature, to etch them with his own hand, and to colour, or superintend the colouring of each particular impression. He therefore presumes to hope that he has succeeded in giving a useful collection of the leading flies for every month in the season, and that anyone who may be led by it to a choice of flies from the stock of the manufacturer, or to the construction of his own, will not have cause to repent having consulted the catalogue, chiefly composing the fourth chapter. One thing is certain, that whoever masters the art of making the delicate Duns and dashing Palmers of Ronalds, will be at no loss to frame those coarser imitations of nature that are successful in Scotland or elsewhere. Learn to imitate the various patterns of this work, exactly, first ; and when once an adept, you may vary your imitation almost endlessly; and following the guidance of Nature's self, may Snatch a grace beyond the rules of art. But to sit down by the brook-side, and |