New-York tribune., 1901-06-16
MlGRArI0NS OF INSECTS
NATURAL AND INDUCED CoLoNfz ar,o,,
BY WINGED PESTS AND BLESSINGS

Not long ago story Was current which s,,.,,s.
iht the realization Of collectors dream,
Sh'f WAS crossing the Atlantic from the Irni,sS
states ana WAS followed ny a number az ,,u,,s,r
i, ~ a .s, slsS Si'eoles called the black Veined
hfoMn. The butterflies kept up With me shin
lfohablY alighting On il AT night and when tbe
s,Ir nl,,u Drew near the Scilly Islands were still
l"l"NAhs IL. Shortly afterWard thirteen of these
American butterflies Were said 10 haNe bnen
'Susht m Cornwall, il was alleged hv friends
81 an entonologist hoard who contrived "a
a. ulehi Know 10y the earliest possible means
,l ,aat su'h distinguished strangers might be ex-
Whether the story is l,ased an fact tho ,,,,i,.r
SHOWS hot. But There is good reason To think
N,st butterflies. do occasionally cross the sea-
Nhethef 10y choice or compulsion. and that they
are NOT the only insects that do so Others ais,
travel great distances ny land, or migrate 70
pastures new ships in trains and among the
feathers of birds The unusual ruml.r al tbe
tamberMell Beauty butterfly seen two wears
ago On the south coast M,.rf1 believed ~ ba,,a
heen blown across. or 10 have flown across with a
ian MlnG, from France. whence also pasSen.,,.rs
on the Calais Dover boats NOT long ago
sNarns of common white butterflies crossing thc
channel This is not in the least surprising The
!"fse Nanessas. such as the red admiral Cam
itrWell beauty. fly swiftly and strongly. One
'"inc oul !" = Sc1tch boat E"inE up Channel and
accompanied il all the way L. The ClNd. Nh,n
llarMlh Mas on the mouth of The Plata. ana also
on IN" iataE"iian sholt, the ship was 'ft,n sur
rounded 10y insects. ''dsne evening he writes
when NE were ten miles from the Bay Il 81
i'iaS' N'sst numbers oi butterflies, IN bands ur
Hooks oi countless mNriads. extended Tar as
The eye could range. More species thau one
were present. but the main number very
similar TO the common English Colias edusa
Even hy the aid of telescope il Was not pos
tihe To a space tree from butterflies some
sr9men cried out II WAS ing butterflies
There seems 10 be an occasional migration of
insects into this country .,croSs M N,,,rb S.,
N"iN ieW people who have lived on tn~ coast OF
Norfolk OF Suffolk doubt il. From time L. time
insects are found washed up 10y the waves or
Heating near the shore. IN numbers like dust
lni multitude. II ~ possible that They Nrr"
blown offshore first. and then washed up again
iN a change Of wind. liut il does not seem
lr"hahle that they would he in suCh compact
masses II dispersed and struggling agains, AN
adverse gale al some distance from land. on
the other hand. il Is Well known that binds
sometimes fall into the sea from exhaustion
when crossing toward land. and the case of these
ladybirds seems much The same. Sometimes the
drowned invaders consist of black focks of the
tiny turnip beetles. which liz the waves like
so"t. Fishermen who spend much of their time
~ the mouth uf the Wash ana tho North Nor
folk coast have told the writer that butterflies
constantly visit their boats, flying in from The
sea; and from tnle to time hlue butterflies are
seen lying al short intervals. from yard 10 Aard,
along miles of the sea fringe Of sand on the Lin
Co!n coast.
plaques or LoCUsTs
The painted lady butterfly appears To- assem-
ble for migration swallows do. Great col
umns of them many yards wide have been seen
flying IA a given direction A locust alighted
on the deck of the iieagle al a distance of three
hundred and seventy miles from land. III am
insect only four inches long can make such
Hight no limits can be set To the possible
mgrati0ns OF loCUsts. They cross seas and eVea
mountains Some years az" they APPEARED near
barjeeling. Whence they came is not precisely
known. But n lS believed that They crossed The
Himalayas from Thibct The inVasiOns of To- 4
Gusts are best remembered when for some
son unknown they decide leave regions
over which their flight is generally taken. and
make vast aerial trek into others such in
Nasions naturally attract great attention. The
records remain. emphasized 10y the actual losses
inflicted, and not infreQuently by more serious
misfOrtunes. In the Middle Ages a locust in
Nssson of the North West regarded as
on Of the regular precursors Of great Iiesti-
lsnces They noted among the forerun-
Of these great Calamities. In l-2s there
al peared in the Mark of Brandenhurg during
the prevalence of a southeast ind and a great
drOuth sWarms of locusts 'as il This prog
nostic, too, Of great '-ldemics be-
wanting" says Hecker. This 'IlugnOStic" had
been observed before the Black Death in the
fourteenth century, the beginning Of the ''mor-
innumcrable locust sNarms, which destroyed
the CROPS i'm Human. and caused the famine
which pestilence followed. Locusts appeared in
FTanconia in incredible swarrns i'm l:sg1. and the
celebrated ''stnking mists" which sTr-ad over
Italy IN l.S4N made ly the ldor 81
Iutfciylng locustS. which had spread from ne
East To the West" The locusts were regarded
having been SUNNI 1ned 10y celestial wrath
Ia complete the destruction al mankind which
,;4rth thquake famine and pesIilence had begun
In 1912 swarms Of locusts migrated from the n
teriOr "f Asia. and travelled across Europe ,
Far north the k,lhe and as far south Spain.
The Turks ;hen invading Hungary and
by natural coincidence brought the plague
with them
Induced migration Of insects offers some curl
points in political natural history. Al the
b.ginnng of the last century the possibility Of
Srf~ he