202 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [December, 



thus obtain elbow room for the survivors. In the " Survival of 

 the Fittest," history tells us that they?//<?^is the party best quali- 

 fied to kill (not to cure) and to destroy (not to build up); and so 

 civilization suffers. 



Now, to speak on the subject of the Conjecture. Of the But- 

 terflies that congregate on the coast, some are probably blown 

 from thence out to sea to become food for fishes; some remaining- 



o 



on the land become the food of birds, or are otherwise destroyed, 

 and so leave few or none as successors to continue the species. 

 It may be the Divine intention thus to reduce the superabundant 

 number of Butterflies so that the food, provided in the ordinary 

 course of nature, will be sufficient for those left behind. If the 

 proper food were scanty or absent in the localities where the great 

 swarms of Butterflies deposited their eggs, the young products 

 of the eggs would not be able to carry on their usual changes, 

 and would die of starvation. And so the continuity of the spe- 

 cies be discontinued so far as they would be concerned, as a result 

 of a superabundance of larvae, to the supply of food. 



As to the sea-going instinct of the Lemmings, it appears as if 

 no other account or purpose can be thought of, except that it is 

 an instinct intended to reduce their superabundant numbers. And 

 as to the Divine intention in drowning them, it appears as if 

 drowning were Divinely considered to be the very easiest and 

 surest form of death. In this connection we may very properly 

 turn to the Holy Scriptures in our researches on this matter. 

 They may be, by some, disregarded as an authority in scientific 

 matters, but with others (including the writer) they are the highest 

 authority, so far as they speak, on any subject they speak of. 



In the Scriptures we find the following historical records in 

 Exodus, chapter x, verses 12-21: 



' ' And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over 

 " the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon 

 " the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that 

 " the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the 

 ' ' land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the 

 " land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, 

 "the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up 

 ' ' over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: 

 " very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts 

 ' ' as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered 



