2. THE JOUKXAL OF THE 



On Xov. 19, 1881, the society celebrated the jiiiinversaiT 

 of it's louiidation, at the house of it's president. After speech 

 es by several officers the meeting- adjourned and a collation 

 was served. Thus has one year rolled by, and it is to ])e sin- 

 cerely hoped that many more will pass with still more satis- 

 factory results. 



THE MIGRATIONS OP IX8ECTS. 



There is perhaps no subject which could be studied with 

 more advarita<>e than the one that I shall briefly treat. Iti? 

 a subject which closely affects the interests nay even the lives 

 of thousands even millions of people, for it is by th? sudden 

 appearance of hords ol insects that famines are caused, atten 

 (led l»y great loss of life. Apparently no one knows Avhat 

 causes such sudden a id vniexpscted migrations of these wing 

 ed creatnres from place to plac?. Of course such tundament- 

 al reasons as scarcity of fo^d, change in temperature, or ex- 

 cessive increai^e of numbers may pHrtially explain such move 

 nientG; but even thes3 do not entirely account for the huge 

 hords which, especiallv in the tropics, are constantly migral 



There is one cause, which of late years has been moi*e thor 

 oughly considered, and wdiic]i,I think, has much to do Avith 

 these migrations. It is the clearing away of timber, and the 

 cultivation of the soil. At first sight this leascm would ap 

 poar ridiculous, but neverth^lcf-s it is w^ell gnmnded. When 

 the natural fjod of a species of msect is e.\ttrminated, it is on 

 ly natuial for that epvcies to !?eek anoth?r as near a:-- possible 

 to the one from which it foimeil}^ derived its subsistance. 

 This may not be found i i the innnediate vicinity and C(mse 

 qucntly the s])e.ies is obHged to migrate to another })l,icy in 

 order to procure it. 



An excellent ex imple of this theory is afforded by the com- 

 mon and Avell-known Colorado potato-beetle (c hkyso^iela 

 1()-lixeata). The natin'al food-i)!ant of this dLvstr..cti\espe 

 cies was originally n'>t th? potato bat a cimnrju W'cd (sol 

 ANUM rostkatum) indigeiums to Colorado and belonging to 



