SHIP- AND WIND-BORNE COLONISTS 311 



exists. Such insects are the most successful of all the pioneers 

 of the animal world, and exist in large numbers on this isolated 

 spot. 



But some are by no means so easily satisfied, and a 

 particular vegetable species — or at least a particular genus — 

 is absolutely essential for the nourishment of their larvas. 



These facts give the problem a somewhat different aspect 

 from that which it first wears when we casually remark the 

 colonists and think only of the distance that they have come, 

 and the hardihood of their journey. Those creatures that are 

 settled and established are the elect, and they are appointed 

 out of a countless host of competitors, all of whom have had 

 equal adventure but have gone under in the struggle, through 

 no fault of their own. They are the actual colonists, the 

 survivors of a vast army of immigrants, every one of which 

 was a potential colonist. 



It is impossible to conceive the numbers of the lost things 

 perpetually fiying about over the ocean, looking for some 

 chance resting-place; it is impossible to conceive the per- 

 petual waste going on among the flying things that have lost 

 touch with land. These are the waifs that come aboard ships 

 when far out at sea, and, considering the chances against an 

 insect boarding a ship in mid-ocean, it is very astonishing how 

 many may be picked up by any one who cares to watch the 

 ship lights by night, and keep his eyes open by day. 



From Suez to Penang is an unbroken steamship run of 

 some 15 days, for many Far Eastern boats do not touch at 

 Colombo ; and this run gives a very favourable opportunity for 

 collecting any ocean strays. 



Upon this tract of ocean, in January 1905, eleven insects 

 came aboard the ship on which I travelled. These eleven 

 insects represented nine different species of five different 

 orders. There were seven specimens of five species of Lepi- 

 doptera, one specimen represented the Diptera, one the 

 Coleoptera, one the Orthoptera, and one the Homoptera. Out 

 of the total of eleven insects, seven came aboard at night, and 

 were found flying round the ship's lights, 



