THE INTEREST IN INSECTS 



107 



India jungle and traversed South 

 America on horseback and there are 

 only two situations, in my life which 

 I could compare with my impression 

 of Chambers Island. One was when 

 going on horseback through a very 

 extensive swamp region in Argentine 

 and countless numbers of flamingos, 

 black necked swans and white and 

 black Ibises were rising before my as- 

 tonished eyes and another time when 

 in shooting tigers in India, a very large 

 quantity of peacocks suddenly rose be- 

 tween the feet of the elephant on whose 

 back I was riding. 



I remain, with sincere regards, 



Yours very truly, 



John C. Uhreaub. 



fairly common in May, it is just as hard to 

 believe that they did not come up from the 

 South." 



We desire to obtain observations re- 

 garding such migrations of butterflies, 

 and want our friends and all members 

 of The Agassiz Association to report 

 promptly in regard to such butterflies 

 especially monarch in flocks large or 

 small. 



Migration of Monarch Butterflies. 



To illustrate the migration of the 

 monarch butterfly the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, in New York 

 City, has prepared a new group of these 

 insects containing five hundred speci- 

 mens. The accompanying illustration 

 is from a section of that group. In the 

 early part of the autumn the butter- 

 flies go southward in flocks of many 

 hundred or even of many thousands, 

 and often remain in one locality for 

 several days. 



In an interesting article in 'The 

 American Museum Journal," Professor 

 Frank E. Lutz writes as follows : 



"Curiously enough, certain definite resting 

 places, or gathering places, seem to be used 

 year after year. Such an one is near Clin- 

 ton, Connecticut, where the specimens for a 

 Museum group were obtained in the fall of 

 1911. The swarming butterflies are so num- 

 erous and clustered so thickly that the 

 leaves are obscured and the brownish un- 

 dersides of the wings of the resting but- 

 terflies gives to the tree a truly autumnal ap- 

 pearance. 



"Then comes the continuance of the south- 

 ward flight. In places the air is brown with 

 fluttering butterflies. As they reach the more 

 southern states they doubtless spread out 

 over the country again, but we are indeed 

 ignorant as to how far those individuals 

 which were born in New England for in- 

 stance, really go, how they spend the winter, 

 or from whence the monarchs of the next 

 New England spring come. No one has 

 put on record a return flocking from the 

 South, so that if there be a migration north- 

 ward it would seem to be only by stragglers. 

 Futhermore the specimens found here in the 

 spring seem to be in rather too good a con- 

 dition to have made the journey. On the 

 other hand no specimens have been found in 

 this vicinity in the winter and as adults are 



Winged Ants. 



Croton-on-the-Hudson, N. Y. 

 To the Editor : 



The winged ants, mentioned in the 

 June number of The Guide; to Nature, 

 may be seen at their mating season, 

 during the last days of August in parts 

 of Delaware County, N. Y. Their 

 day is about August 24, in places 

 where I have observed them, and 

 they appear in swarms that actually 

 fill the air. They evidently prefer a 

 sunny afternoon, and continue their 

 flight until the sun sinks behind the 

 hills. By looking toward the setting 

 sun they may be watched to very good 

 advantage. They arise in bunches, or 

 swarms, each swarm evidently repre- 

 senting - one queen and hundreds of 

 males. I have seen ants from the col- 

 onies representing the good part of a 

 long valley, all celebrating this mating 

 occasion at once. Whether this com- 

 mon impulse was due to the suitable, 

 sunny August afternoon, or to some 

 prearranged plan, it was hard to con- 

 jecture. Work usually ceases for a 

 time on the farm, during this flight 

 of the ants, and all hands make a few, 

 more or less scientific, observations. It 

 is extremely difficult to follow the activ- 

 ities of the ants after they return to 

 the ground, to see how the males spend 

 their few remaining hours, and where 

 the queens prepare their nests, and the 

 writer is hoping for the opportunity of 

 reading a few extra pages from this 

 little explored part of the book of na- 

 ture during the coming vacation. 



Charles A. Dann. 



You know it is quite a task to sup- 

 port a family and save a dollar for a 

 good book, but I am so used to The 

 Guide to Nature that I would not like 

 to be without it if I have to pay for it 

 on the installment plan. — H. Koster, 

 Brooklyn, Nezv York. 



