12 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OE INSECTS. 



ocean, at only a small distance, they must consequently 

 perish. It is remarked that at this time no other kind 

 of butterfly is to be seen, though the country usually 

 abounds in such a variety^. — Major Moor, while sta- 

 tioned at Bombay, as he was playing- at chess one even- 

 ino- with a friend in Old Woman's Island, near that 

 place, witnessed an immense flight of bugs (Ciiniccs), 

 which were going westward. They were so numerous 

 as to cover every thing in the apartment in wliich he was 

 sitting. — When staying at Aldeburgli, on the eastern 

 coast, I have, at certain times, seen innumerable in- 

 sects upon the beach close to the waves, and appa- 

 rently washed up by them. Though wetted, they were 

 quite alive. It is remarkable, that of the einigrating 

 insects here enumerated, the majority — for instance 

 the Libellulae, Coccinellff, Carabi, Cicadffi, &c. — are 

 not usually social insects, but seem to congregate, like 

 swallows, merely for the purpose of emigration. Wl-at 

 incites them to this is one of those mysteries of nature, 

 which at present we cannot penetrate. A scarcity of 

 food urges the locusts to shift their quarters; and too 

 confined a space to accommodate their numbers occa- 

 sions the bees to swarm : but neither of these motives 

 can operate in causing unsocial insects to congregate. 

 It is still more difficult to account for the impulse that 

 urges these creatures, with their filmy wings and fra- 

 gile form, to attempt to ci'oss the ocean, and expose 

 themselves, one would think, to inevitable destruction. 

 Yet, though we are unable to assign the cause of this 

 singular instinct, some of the reasons which induced 

 the Creator to endow them with it may be conjectured, 

 " K. Milit. C/iron. for Marcli 1815, p. 452. 



