Hairy caterpillars feeding on the trees are blown off by the winds, or their silken thread is broken, as they hang under the leaves in shelter from the rain. Imitations of those known to the American by the familiar term of hackles are to be used after winds or during rain storms; also that compromise between larvae and image known as the hackle fly. No bait has ever been used that has given as general satisfaction as this anomaly. It is a common remark that fish will not bite before rain. The reason is probably that food is never offered at such times. The natural instinct of the insect forbids its leaving the water or flying abroad if rain is threatening. The breathing-pores are situated on the outside of the body near the insertion of the wings. They are soon clogged and closed up by the water, and the down washed from their bodies; their wings draggle and become powerless, and they suffocate flying in midair. This is the reason winged insects on touching water drown so easily. Insects do not invariably appear at the same times. A cold spring will retard their development for months, while an unusually warm spring or summer will hasten their appearance. Insects in the water are the most affected by changes of temperature. Any guide for a fly-fisher would be almost useless unless this important point were remembered. English works can never become positive authorities for our climate. Insects which appear there in vast quantities are rare here, and _vice versa_. Some that are single-brooded there are doubled-brooded here. Some that appear there in one month visit us at another, while we have many alluring baits here that the classic waters of the British Isles would regard with bewildering amazement." In fishing with worm for bait, good fishermen say, it is better to choose a still, cloudy day indicating rain, as the fish are then hungry for insects. An expert trout-fisher will begin at the head of a stream and fish down it, always keeping some distance from the bank to avoid alarming the fish. The speckled beauty, as the brook trout is universally called, as a food fish is by many considered unsurpassed, the flesh being firm and well flavored. Others, however, regard it as only an occasional delicacy. CUBA AND THE SPORTSMAN. DEER, WILD BOAR, AND MANY SPECIES OF GAME BIRDS FOUND IN ABUNDANCE--WATERS TEEM WITH FISH. While Cuba offers such a haven to the invalid, it is a paradise to the sportsman, wild game and fish of all kinds being abundant. Parties of gentlemen on horseback, with their pack of hounds, hunt the fleet-footed deer. It is a common thing for a small party to kill eight or ten deer in a day.