CHAPTER IX 



THE MIGRATIONS OF INSECTS 



NOT long ago a story was current which sounded like 

 the realisation of a collector's dream. A ship was 

 crossing the Atlantic from the United States, and was 

 followed by a number of butterflies of a large species 

 called the "black-veined brown." The butterflies 

 kept up with the ship, probably alighting on it at 

 night, and when the steamer drew near the Scilly 

 Islands were still following it. Shortly afterwards 

 thirteen of these American butterflies were said to 

 have been caught in Cornwall, it was alleged by friends 

 of an entomologist on board, who contrived to let 

 them know by the earliest possible means that such 

 distinguished strangers might be expected. 



Whether the story is based on fact the writer knows 

 not. But there is good reason to think that butter- 

 flies do occasionally cross the sea, whether by choice 

 or compulsion, and that they are not the only insects 

 that do so. Others also travel great distances by 

 land, or migrate to pastures new on ships, in trains, 

 and among the feathers of birds. The unusual num- 

 bers of the Camberwell beauty butterfly seen a few 

 years ago on the South Coast were believed to have 

 been blown across, or to have flown across with a fair 



E 



