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is not concerned, what at first sight may frequently 

 appear to be impossible becomes clear enough when 

 more critically inquired into. Some species, we know, 

 are gifted with greater powers for horizontal and vertical 

 progression than their comrades, and can (though they 

 are doubtless exceptions to the general rule) pass through 

 extremes of atmosphere sufficient to render even lofty 

 mountain summits no obstacles to them. Others, as the 

 Calosoma Syncophanta of Europe, have been stated to 

 traverse the ocean unhurt* ; and I believe that many do 

 at times accidentally arrive, in a half-drowned state, 

 especially after boisterous weather, across channels of 

 considerable breadth. Mr. Kirby, on examining the 

 marine rejectamenta, during one of these apparent oc- 

 currences, along the Suffolk coast, writes as follows : 

 " Whether the insects I observed upon the beach, wetted 

 by the waves, had flown from our own shores, and, fall- 

 ing into the water, had been brought back by the tide ; 

 or whether they had succeeded in the attempt to pass 

 from the continent to us, by flying as far as they could, 



* Many of the Calosomata would appear to possess this power 

 of crossing, either by flight or by abandoning themselves to the 

 waves (though more probably by the assistance of both), even ma- 

 rine barriers with impunity. Numerous instances are on record to 

 this effect ; and I am informed by Mr. Darwin that a Calosoma flew 

 on board the ' Beagle,' off the Bay of San Bias, in South America, 

 whilst they were ten miles from shore. It seems likely, therefore, 

 that the occasional occurrence of the C. Syncophanta in our own 

 country, along the southern and eastern coasts, is due to this generic 

 capability, and consequently (as indeed it is usually acknowledged 

 to be), the result of accident. 



H2 



