Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-21
mIcRA'Ioxs OF INSECTS.
\ dural and Induced Colonization BY Winged
Pests and Blessings.


collectors dream. A ship was crossing
the Atlantic from the United States,
and was followed by a number of but
terliies OF large species called the
'black-veined brown The butter
flies kept up with the ship, brobab bly,
alighting on it at night, and when the
steamer drew near the Scilly Islands
were still following it. Shortly after
ward thirteen Of these American but
terflies were said to have been caught
in Cornwall. it was alleged by friends
of an entomologist on board, who con-
trived to let them know by the earliest
possible means that such distinguished
strangers might be expected.
Whether the story is based on fact
the writer knows not. But there is
good reason to think that butterflies do
occasionally cross the sea, whether by
choice or compulsion, and that they
are not the only insects that do so.
Others also travel great distances by
land, or migrate to pastures new on
ships. in trains and among the feath-
erS of birds. The unusual number of
Camberwell Beauty butterfly seen two
years ago on the south coast were be-
lieved to have been blown across, or
to have flown across with a fair wind,
from France. whence also passengers
on the Calais Dover boats saw not
long ago swarms of common white
butterflies crossing the channel. This
is rot in the least surprising. The
large vanessas, such as the red adj
miral or Camberwell beauty, fly swift
ly and strongly. One came out to a
Scotch boat going up channel and ac-
companied it all the way to the Clyde.
When Darwin was off the mouth of
the Plata, and also off the Patagonian
shore, the ship was often surrounded
by insects. "One evening"" he writes,
when we were ten miles from the
Bay of st. Bias. vast numbers Of but
terflies. in bands or flocks of countless
myriads. extended as far as the eye
could range. More species than one
We're present, but the main number
were very similar to the common Eng
lish Colas eduSa. Even by the aid of
n telescope ii was not possible to see n
space free from butterflies. Some
seamen cried out, 1T was showing but
terflies.'
INefe seems TO De an occasional
migration of insects into this country
across the North Sea. Very few peo-
pie who have lived on the coast OF
Norfolk or Suffolk doubt it. From time
to time insects are found washed up by
the waves, or floating near the shore
in numbers like dust for multitude
1t is possible that they were blown off
shore first. and then washed up again
by a change of wind. But ii does not
seem probable that they would be il
such compact masses if dispersed anC
struggling against an adverse gale a
some distance from land. On the Other
hand. it is well known that birds
sometimes fall into the sea from ex-
I haustion when crossing toward land
and the case of these ladybirds seems
1 much the same. Sometimes tn,
drowned invaders consist of blacl
nocks of the tiny turnip beetles which
I lie on the waves like SCOT. Fishermen
who spend much of their time off tn,
mouth of the Wash and the Nortf
! Norfolk coast have told the writer tina
| butterflies constantly visit their boats
/ flying in from the sea: and from tim,
/ to time blue butterflies are seen lyini
at short intervals from yard to yard
4 along miles of the sea fringe of SAND
on the Lincoln coast.
The painted lady butterfly appears t.
assemble for migration as swallows do
Great columns of them many yards wild
have been seen flying in a given difec
ton. \ locust alighted on the deck o
the Beagle at assistance of thrc" hundre,
and seventy miles from land Il an insec
only four inches long can make such :
siblc migrations of lOcuSts. They eros
seas and even mountains. Some year
ago they appeared near Darjeelins
I Whence they came is not prec sci
known. But 1t is believed that the.
crossed the Himalayas from Thibct Tn
invasions of iocusts are best RENE mbc lie;
when for some reason unknown they de
eide TO leave the regions over which thoi
vast aerial trek into others. Such inva
sions naturally attract great attention
The records remain. emphasized by tn
actual losses inflicted. and not infrc
+ qucntly by more serious misfortunes. II
the Middle Ages q locust invasion of tn,
/ North OF West was regarded as one o
the ncs rsEg Ehe taec'rs %, Of great pest
. fOrerGnnerS of these great calamities. II
152S there appeared in the Mark of Bran
denhurg. during the prevalence of =;
swarms of locusts. las if this progncs
, tic. too, of great epidemicS was not TO b.
wanting" says Hecker. This 'proenos
! tie. had been observed before the Blaci
/ Death in the fourteenth century. the be
| ginning of the 'morbitic conditions II
! the Far East having been innumerab
/ locust sWarmS. which destroyed the crop
] in Human, and caused the famine WhiCl
pestilence followed. Iocusts appeared il
! Franconia in incredible swarmS in 1881
/ and the celebrated Sinking mists whicl
spread over Italy in 1SiS Were made wors
by the odor of putrefying locIsts, "whici
/ hpl