66 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



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wind, from France, whence also passengers on the 

 Calais-Dover boats saw not long ago swarms of 

 common white butterflies crossing the Channel. This 

 is not in the least surprising. The large vanessas, 

 such as the red admiral or Camberwell beauty, fly 

 swiftly and strongly. One came out to a Scotch 

 boat going up Channel, and accompanied it all the 

 way to the Clyde. When Darwin was off the mouth 

 of the Plata, and also off the Patagonian shore, the 

 ship was often surrounded by insects. "One evening," 

 he writes, " when we were ten miles from the Bay of 

 St. Bias, vast numbers of butterflies, in bands or flocks 

 of countless myriads, extended as far as the eye could 

 range. More species than one were present, but 

 the main number were very similar to the common 

 English Colias edusa. Even by the aid of a telescope it 

 was not possible to see a space free from butterflies. 

 Some seamen cried out ' it was snowing butterflies.' " 



There seems to be an occasional migration of insects 

 into this country across the North Sea. Very few 

 people who have lived on the coast of Norfolk or 

 Suffolk doubt it. From time to time ladybirds and 

 other insects are found washed up by the waves, or 

 floating near the shore, in numbers " like dust for 

 multitude." It is possible that they were blown off- 

 shore first, and then washed up again by a change of 

 wind. But it does not seem probable that they would 

 be in such compact masses if dispersed and strug- 

 gling against an adverse gale at some distance from 

 land. On the other hand, it is well known that birds 

 sometimes fall into the sea from exhaustion when 



