574 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



A locomotive attached to a loaded train on the Chota- 

 Nagpur railroad of India was charged by a rogue ele- 

 phant, derailed, and put out of commission, but the ele- 

 phant lost its own life in the act. 



When we think of the size of a large elephant we are 

 not surprised that one could derail a train, but when 

 one looks at a potato bug, an army worm, a grasshopper, 

 or a June bug, it seems as if it would be an impossible 

 task for these little insects to stop the onrushing, heavy, 

 and powerful locomotive, with its long, heavily loaded 

 train. Nevertheless, they have done it over and over 

 again. When an army of the tiny creatures are caught 

 on an up-grade the mashed bodies of the insects make 

 the track so slippery that the huge drive wheels of the 

 engine whirl and buzz in impotent wrath, unable to 

 move an inch on their way. 



In 1888 the inhabitants around Ninety-six, S. C, were 

 aroused one night by a fall of black "bugs." (The 

 "bugs" were probably beetles.) The same phenom- 

 enon had happened in that county before. A similar 

 cloud of black beetles, in a state of religious fervor, en- 

 tered a church in Chenoa, 111., during service. The 

 pastor and the congregation beat a retreat and left the 

 church in possession of the beetles. 



Most of my readers have seen very lively, brilliant, 

 metallic, green-colored beetles run along the dusty road 

 or sandy shore, fly a short distance ahead and then run 

 along again. In 1887 a cloud of these beetles, or some 

 nearly related species, invaded the town of Trenton, 

 Mo., to the great annoyance of the people. 



This notion of migrating in vast armies does not seem 



