I have been
told that one hundred and sixty minnows have been found in a Trout's
belly: either the Trout had devoured so many, or the miller that gave it a
friend of mine had forced them down his throat after he had taken him.
Now for Flies; which is the third bait wherewith Trouts are usually
taken. You are to know, that there are so many sorts of flies as there be
of fruits: I will name you but some of them; as the dun-fly, the stone-
fly, the red-fly, the moor-fly, the tawny-fly, the shell-fly, the cloudy or
blackish-fly, the flag-fly, the vine-fly; there be of flies, caterpillars, and
canker-flies, and bear-flies; and indeed too many either for me to name,
or for you to remember. And their breeding is so various and
wonderful, that I might easily amaze myself, and tire you in a relation
of them.
And, yet, I will exercise your promised patience by saying a little of the
caterpillar, or the palmer-fly or worm; that by them you may guess what
a work it were, in a discourse, but to run over those very many flies,
worms, and little living creatures, with which the sun and summer
adorn and beautify the river-banks and meadows, both for the
recreation and contemplation of us anglers; pleasures which, I think,
myself enjoy more than any other man that is not of my profession.
Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth, or being, from a dew
that in the spring falls upon the leaves of trees; and that some kinds of
them are from a dew left upon herbs or flowers; and others from a dew
left upon coleworts or cabbages: all which kinds of dews being
thickened and condensed, are by the sun's generative heat, most of
them, hatched, and in three days made living creatures.
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