of live insects-the Caperer, or caddis fly; the March-brown; the Governor; the black Alder. He also refers to various large palmers or hairy caterpillars. Nowadays over nine-tenths of the chalkstream trout fall victims to flies which are more or less perfect copies of the little duns or sub-imagos of the Ephemerida, which float over them as naturally as the real insect does. The Governor, Alder and Palmer are not insects which are found upon the water unless they have been blown by the wind or fallen from the bank. It is remarkable that an observant man like Kingsley should not have discovered that the vast bulk of the floating insects at which chalkstream trout rise are duns. Yet

he pronounces the duns to be " uncertain flies," and asks, "did you ever see any large fish rise at these Ephemera? And even if you did, can you imitate the natural fly?"

The mayfly or green-drake does not come on until five o'clock, and in the meantime the anglers rest and comfort themselves with sherry, biscuits, and cigars. So far there has been no mention of the dry-fly or of fishing for rising

CHARLES COTTON

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fish. But when the trout are glutting themselves with mayflies he advises throwing wherever you see a fish rise. "Do not work your flies in the least, but let them float down over the fish or sink if they will; he is more likely to take them under water than on the top." So much, then, for the dry-fly in the mid-Victorian era: Kingsley, at all events, had not discovered its efficacy.

Anglers seem to have practised fly-fishing for trout for some two hundred years before discovering the advantage of casting up-stream. Charles Cotton published his "Instructions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear Stream," in 1676; and though there is little to be learnt from it, the curious fly-fisherman will be rewarded by a careful study of this immortal classic. It formed Part II. of the fifth edition of "The Compleat Angler," the last that was published in Izaak Walton's lifetime. Cotton, of course, was writing of down-stream fishing when he recommended a very long line as a mighty advantage. "To fish fine and far off is the first and principal rule for trout angling." This

often-quoted phrase contains good advice for those who search the water with a sunk-fly fished down-stream; but for the dry-fly fisherman and all who have acquired the art of throwing upstream, the best advice would be fine and close behind your fish. It is surprising how near one can approach a trout from behind and with what boldness one may cast over him by keeping out of the limited range of his vision.

In the middle of the nineteenth century Stewart was one of the pioneers of up-stream fishing. In his "Practical Angler," a book which has never received the praise it deserves, he argued at great length on the advantages of fishing up-stream where the pace of the current admits.* Stewart, who was a Northerner, does not mention the dry-fly.

There is no doubt, however, that fishing with a floating fly up-stream is very much older than is commonly supposed. Some evidence exists for believing that it first came into general use

* W. C. Stewart, "The Practical Angler; or the Art of Trout Fishing," Edinburgh, 1850. 8vo. A second edition was published in the same year, and was followed by numerous other editions.

THE ANGLER'S DESIDERATUM

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on the Itchen, where the water is clearer and the trout are more cautious than on other chalkstreams. Its growth was gradual, and it spread slowly, until it became suddenly recognized as the most effective method of capturing the biggest and shyest of the chalkstream trout. Perhaps the first stage was to cast where a trout had been seen to rise. In "The Angler's Desideratum," by Captain Clarke, which was published in 1839, there will be found instructions for fly-fishing in a calm or in sunshine.

"This mode of fishing is by dropping the fly in the centre of the circle a trout describes on sucking down a fly . . . Keep a sharp lookout for a circle to enable you to drop your fly with quickness and precision in the centre. . . . The largest trout are taken this way."*

Here we have the rudiments of what is now called "fishing the rise" as opposed to fishing

"The Angler's Desideratum, containing the best and fullest directions for dressing the artificial fly ever offered to the public; with some new and valuable inventions by the author, from a practice of nearly half a century." [Edinburgh], 1839. 12mo. I have never seen a copy of this book, and am compelled to quote at second hand.

the water at random. The next stage, perhaps, was the practice of throwing up-stream, which has such obvious advantages with shy trout, that it seems incredible that it should not have been general long before Stewart enlarged upon its merits. When fishermen had come to casting up-stream and to directing their efforts to rising fish, it was but a step to let the flies float down over the trout. There, then, is the fully developed dry-fly system.

Some little while since an article in The Field on the origin of the dry-fly evoked some interesting letters from old Wykehamists, who remembered the Itchen half a century ago. We have the evidence of one, whose memory went back to the years 1844 to 1848, that the systematic use of the dry-fly, as we know it, was unknown at that time on the Winchester College water. The boys had only a short time for fishing, but they used to look for a rise and made a point of putting their fly, while it was still dry, over the trout. After a few casts it got soaked, and they went on fishing in the usual way. On changing flies they gave the new fly a similar