The most remarkable instance I have known of an insect being
caught far from the land, was that of a large grasshopper
(Acrydium), which flew on board, when the "Beagle" was to windward
of the Cape de Verd Islands, and when the nearest point of land,
not directly opposed to the trade-wind, was Cape Blanco on the
coast of Africa, 370 miles distant. (8/6. The flies which
frequently accompany a ship for some days on its passage from
harbour to harbour, wandering from the vessel, are soon lost, and
all disappear.)
On several occasions, when the "Beagle" has been within the mouth
of the Plata, the rigging has been coated with the web of the
Gossamer Spider. One day (November 1st, 1832) I paid particular
attention to this subject. The weather had been fine and clear, and
in the morning the air was full of patches of the flocculent web,
as on an autumnal day in England. The ship was sixty miles distant
from the land, in the direction of a steady though light breeze.
Vast numbers of a small spider, about one-tenth of an inch in
length, and of a dusky red colour, were attached to the webs. There
must have been, I should suppose, some thousands on the ship. The
little spider, when first coming in contact with the rigging, was
always seated on a single thread, and not on the flocculent mass.
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