sell] MIGRATION OF BEETLES 55 



same time, give assurance that they are right. Even then, must 

 good teaching prevail in the training of those who are to teach, and 

 we must recognize it as highly important. 



We may, in the way of summary, briefly call attention to the 

 points made. They have clustered about two centers: the one 

 concerns the understanding of the nature of the physical and men- 

 tal development of the child, and the other with those elements in 

 training essential to his wise and forceful instruction. The former 

 lends a firm and certain belief in the need, the adequacy, and the 

 inspiration lying in the study of Nature and her ways. The latter 

 attempts to show what are the mental attributes most essential in 

 those who are to direct children in their study of Nature. And all 

 of these ideas are directly and inextricably associated with the most 

 fundamental element of the present Nature-Study problem — the 

 adequate training of teachers. 



A Migration of Beetles 



By R. A. Sell 



An army of striped cucumber beetles, so many that their number 

 could not be estimated, eight miles wide and about one hundred 

 miles long must seem formidable to a truck gardener. 



About three weeks after the Galveston storm of 191 5 great 

 numbers of Striped Cucumber Beetles were seen in a migratory 

 movement. This was especially interesting because these beetles 

 do not usually collect in great numbers like grasshoppers and other 

 insects. While they often become plentiful and are very destruc- 

 tive to cucumbers, pumpkins, squashes, etc., they do not, as a rule, 

 travel any greater distances than is necessary to find their favorite 

 food plants. 



In this instance they came from the north and traveled in a 

 general southward direction. They flew comparatively short dis- 

 tances and were content to rest on most any kind of a plant. Every 

 time a beetle took to wing it flew towards the south. The line of 

 beetles was eight miles wide and probably over one hundred miles 

 long but after it had passed over, there were no stragglers left 

 behind. Beetles that were marked at Houston and Ballaire by 

 painting their wing-covers with a dash of red India ink were found 

 three days later near Texas City Junction. At Livingston and 

 Colmesneil, where there had been many beetles all summer, the 



