Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1920 — HOW BUTTERFLIES CROSS SEA [ARTICLE]

HOW BUTTERFLIES CROSS SEA

Delicate Creatures Suffer During Voyage, but Millions of Them Make Passage in Safety. The most wonderful of ocean flyers are the butterflies which cross the ocean in the spring. Naturalists tell us that one of the most amazing sights in the world is to see millions of these delicate creatures, like a cloud of tiny pieces of paper, flying across the channel from the continent to English shores, when the wind is favorable. Their stamina, and endurance are extraordinary, and although some fall exhausted into the sea, the bulk make a successful crossing. The butterfly army of invasion generally includes many beautiful specimens, and as an illustration of their powers of endurance It might be mentioned many butterflies have descended to rest on vessels 200 miles at sea. The farthest authenticated distance at which a moth has been captured at sea was recorded by a well-known scientist eight years ago, who took specimens of a certain large moth 1,200 miles from the nearest possible land. —London Tit-Bits.