THE GOSSAMER SPIDER 



Even with the aid of a glass, it was not possible 

 to see a space free from butterflies. The seamen 

 cried out, " it was snowing butterflies/' and such 

 in fact, was the appearance.* The day had been 

 fine and calm, and the one previous to it equally 

 so. It is not, therefore, probable, that the insects 

 were blown off the land, but we may conclude 

 that they voluntarily took flight. Before sun-set, 

 however, a strong breeze sprung up from the north, 

 and this must have been the cause of tens of 

 thousands of the butterflies having perished. This 

 migratory instinct in insects is not confined to but- 

 terflies. Numerous beetles have been found far out 

 at sea. Numbers of them were discovered seventeen 

 miles from land, swimming in the open ocean, and 

 apparently not much injured by the salt water. 



The interesting fact of insects being blown from 

 the Patagonian shore was observed by Captain 

 Cook, and has been ably remarked upon by Mr. 

 Darwin. Amongst other facts, he informs us that 

 while the Beagle was in the mouth of the Plata, 

 the rigging was coated with the web of the gossa- 

 mer Spider. The weather had been fine and clear, 

 and in the morning the air was full of patches of 



* Captain Fitzroy, in his narrative, says, that this flight of 

 white butterflies occupied a space of not less than two hundred 

 yards in height, a mile in width, and several miles in length, and 

 that they were as numerous as flakes of snow in the thickest 

 shower. 



