The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-08

numbers OF three widely different SPECIES OF
/ Insects. The first, which took place ia the
/ month OF May, was the fight OF white but
terlilsS OF the species known as kricogonia
/ !yslde. about as large as our common cab
Dage butterfly, and pretty closely resemb-
ing II. In the morning these white butter
I MES began 10 leave the places where they
had concealed themselves during the night
I and 70 move to one general direction to-
I ward the north. BY noon the prairie was
alive with them all around as far as the eye
/ could reach.
walked several miles that morning
| through the vast cloud Of wings, but found
no end OF IL At times | compared them in
numbers TO bees leaving hive, at others to
| great rarid snowfakes. l stood with my
collecting net catching on the wing some Of
the finest and largest specimens that came
within reach. There was not much choice.
/ however, for l noticed that nearly ali of
them were in fresh and perfect condition,
having evidently just emerged from the
chrysaIis.
All that day they continued to fy. but. Of
course, the migration ceased at night be-
cause 1t is the instinct OF butterflies to go
under cover wion darkness approaches. 1
found a few that had lodged under the
leaves OF the mesquite. a bush related to
our locust. The next morning the flight
was resumed, and the white-robed travellers
continued to move past me in dense swarms
for about an hour, after which the mum bers
dwindled down, then became scattered.
Then few stragglers only we're to be seen,
aud at last they disappeared.
On two other occasions l witnessed north
| ward migrations of the same species. / was
assured by observers, whom had reason to
consider trustworthy, that in the early au-
Jumn large flights of this same white but
terdy takes place in southwark direction.
Ctrnh lob ~
later brood, because the life Of an indivld-
ual butterfly is but few weeks In duration
at most. IL is quite possible that by some
developed instinct peculiar to only few
| species, these butterflies are impelled, at
the beginning OF the long, dry, southern
| summer to seek more northern climate,
| where they may find a soil less baked by the
sun and more succulent heritage adapted 70
| the wants of their voracious caterpillars.
At the end of summer il would seem that
they return, like the birds, to find a warm
and sunny winter. The flights that OBJ
serve took place in southern Texas, but in
my journeys further north l never found
this species in large numbers. am, there
fore. unable to say to what northern locali-
ty my great clouds Of white butterflies
could have been waited.
In June Of the same year and again in
August a certain large dragon fly caught
the migrating fever and millions Of this
kind flew in swarms all In one direction
over the prairie. As far as our party could
travel in one day we continued to see these
winged "darning- In June they
few due northwest. in August nearly south
west. This also seemed like going and re-
turning migration. Unlike the butterflies,
these dragon flies continued their passage
during the night and their procession occu-
pied three or four days in passing us. We
had no means of learning whittier they
were bound or whence they came.
The common gray beetle, known as the
Spanish fly is another migrant over the
Texas prairies. Our party suddenly en-
countered an army Of these beetles as we
were driving from one of our hunting
camps to another, and we turned and fol-
lowed in its wake. The insects crawled as
fast as their active legs could carry them,
making a column that varied from six
inches to two feet in width and more than
100 yards in length. The head of the
army was impactly formed in dense line,
but its rear ended with q long stream of
straggIers, which became fewer and more
scattered until they gradually ceased. l
am inclined to believe that all these myriads
Of beetles were Matched from eggs laid
close together by few females of the
preceding generation.