London Insects. 125 



the most interesting of the insects a single leaf is an 

 estate, and a park or garden in a square means space 

 unbounded ; and so, as might be expected, they 

 swarm in all directions in London as thickly as 

 anywhere else. 



Perhaps, indeed, there is no place in the world 

 in which with good eyes and a little patience such a 

 curious collection of miscellaneous living insects 

 from every part of the world might be made as in 

 the neighbourhood of the London Docks. They 

 come, whether we will or not, as stowaways from 

 every port with which our ships trade from every 

 part, that is, of the habitable world. 



It was only a very few years ago as late as 

 1877 that the help of the three Estates of the 

 Realm was called in to prevent an invasion of a 

 small yellow and black-striped beetle, scarcely bigger 

 than a Ladybird. An Act of Parliament was passed, 

 two Orders at least, with pains and penalties, were 

 issued in the Queen's name, and something over 

 10,000 broad sheets printed and circulated broadcast 

 throughout the country, giving coloured pictures of 

 the miscreant, life-sized and magnified, in every stage 

 of its existence, and announcing in colonial English 

 and large print that " the country around the town 

 of Ontario, Canada," was "swarming with the 

 Colorado Beetle," and that the Canadian Minister 

 had reported that not only did it " move by flying 

 and by navigating, so to speak, smooth water, but 

 also travelled on common vehicles, railway carriages 

 and platforms " most alarming of all " and on 

 decks of vessels, &c., especially during the months 

 of August and September." 



Solomon on his flying carpet, with his royal escort 

 of hoopoes, would be a scarcely more startling party 



