第 34 节
作者:
精灵王 更新:2021-04-30 17:23 字数:9316
the natural water…flies which haunt a given stream; except among
cunning old fishermen of the lower class; who get their living by the
gentle art; and bring to indoors baskets of trout killed on flies; which
look as if they had been tied with a pair of tongs; so rough and ungainly
are they; but which; nevertheless; kill; simply because they are (in
COLOUR; which is all that fish really care for) exact likenesses of some
obscure local species; which happen to be on the water at the time。
Among gentlemen…fishermen; on the other hand; so deep is the
ignorance of the natural fly; that I have known good sportsmen still
under the delusion that the great 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 creeping larva of the May…fly;
which may be found in May under the river… banks。 The consequence of
this ignorance is that they depend for good patterns of flies on mere
chance and experiment; and that the shop patterns; originally excellent;
deteriorate continually; till little or no likeness to their living prototype
remains; being tied by town girls; who have no more understanding of
what the feathers and mohair in their hands represent than they have of
what the National Debt represents。 Hence follows many a failure at the
stream…side; because the 〃Caperer;〃 or 〃Dun;〃 or 〃Yellow Sally;〃 which
is produced from the fly…book; though; possibly; like the brood which
came out three years since on some stream a hundred miles away; is
quite unlike the brood which is out to…day on one's own river。 For not
only do most of these flies vary in colour in different soils and climates;
but many of them change their hue during life; the Ephemerae;
especially; have a habit of throwing off the whole of their skins (even;
marvellously enough; to the skin of the eyes and wings; and the delicate
〃whisks〃 at their tail); and appearing in an utterly new garb after ten
minutes' rest; to the discomfiture of the astonished angler。
The natural history of these flies; I understand from Mr。 Stainton
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(one of our most distinguished entomologists); 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 for 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 correspondence 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; another among the yet earlier slates of
Snowdonia; or some mountain part of Wales; and more than one among
the hills of the Border and the lakes of the Highlands? Each would find
(I suspect); on comparing 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 county
were unknown a hundred miles away; or; at least; appeared there under
great differences of size and colour; and each; if he would take the
trouble to collect the caddises and water…crickets; and breed them into
the perfect fly in an aquarium; would see marvels in their
transformations; their instincts; their anatomy; quite as great (though not;
perhaps; as showy and startling) as I have been trying to point out on the
sea…shore。 Moreover; each and every one of the party; I will warrant;
will find his fellow…correspondents (perhaps previously unknown to him)
men worth knowing; not; it may be; of the meditative and half… saintly
type of dear old Izaak Walton (who; after all; was no fly… fisher; but a
sedentary 〃popjoy〃 guilty of float and worm); but rather; like his fly…
fishing disciple Cotton; good fellows and men of the world; and; perhaps;
something better over and above。
The suggestion has been made。 Will it ever be taken up; and a
〃Naiad Club〃 formed; for the combination of sport and science?
And; now; how can this desultory little treatise end more usefully
than in recommending a few books on Natural History; fit for the use of
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young people; and fit to serve as introductions to such deeper and larger
works as Yarrell's 〃Birds and Fishes;〃 Bell's 〃Quadrupeds〃 and
〃Crustacea;〃 Forbes and Hanley's 〃Mollusca;〃 Owen's 〃Fossil Mammals
and Birds;〃 and a host of other admirable works? Not that this list will
contain all the best; but simply the best of which the writer knows; let;
therefore; none feel aggrieved; if; as it may chance; opening these pages;
they find their books omitted。
First and foremost; certainly; come Mr。 Gosse's books。 There is a
playful and genial spirit in them; a brilliant power of word… painting
combined with deep and earnest religious feeling; which makes them as
morally valuable as they are intellectually interesting。 Since White's
〃History of Selborne;〃 few or no writers on Natural History; save Mr。
Gosse; Mr。 G。 H。 Lewes; and poor Mr。 E。 Forbes; have had the power of
bringing out the human side of science; and giving to seemingly dry
disquisitions and animals of the lowest type; by little touches of pathos
and humour; that living and personal interest; to bestow which is
generally the special function of the poet: not that Waterton and Jesse
are not excellent in this respect; and authors who should be in every
boy's library: but they are rather anecdotists than systematic or
scientific inquirers; while Mr。 Gosse; in his 〃Naturalist on the Shores of
Devon;〃 his 〃Tour in Jamaica;〃 his 〃Tenby;〃 and his 〃Canadian
Naturalist;〃 has done for those three places what White did for Selborne;
with all the improved appliances of a science which has widened and
deepened tenfold since White's time。 Mr。 Gosse's 〃Manual of the
Marine Zoology of the British Isles〃 is; for classification; by far the
completest handbook extant。 He has contrived in it to compress more
sound knowledge of vast classes of the animal kingdom than I ever saw
before in so small a space。 (35)
Miss Anne Pratt's 〃Things of the Sea…coast〃 is excellent; and still
better is Professor Harvey's 〃Sea…side Book;〃 of which it is impossible to
speak too highly; and most pleasant it is to see a man of genius and
learning thus gathering the bloom of his varied knowledge; to put it into
a form equally suited to a child and a SAVANT。