ODD SHOWERS: OR, AN EXPLANATION OF THE RAIN OF INSECTS, FISHES, AND LIZARDS; SOOT, SAND, AND ASHES; RED RAIN AND SNOW; METEORIC STONES; AND OTHER BODIES.

BY CARRIBBER.

INTENDED CHIEFLY FOR YOUNG PERSONS.

LONDON:

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KERBY & SON, 190, OXFORD STREET. 1870.

TO MY DAUGHTER, RICARDA CECILIA,

THESE PAGES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED,

London, October, 1870.

ODD SHOWERS.

My attention was first directed to the subject of "Odd Showers" on Sunday, 25th July, 1841, when riding on horseback with a relative from the village of St. Henri, known as "The Tanneries," to the St. Pierre Race Course, on the Island of Montreal, in Canada. Shortly after crossing the bridge over the canal, our attention was attracted to myriads of little things hopping across the road in all directions, which we recognized to be small frogs. I dismounted and collected a lot of them in my pocket handkerchief, which was replaced in my pocket; and it was the impression of my friend and myself at the time, that the multitude of these little creatures observed within a limited space, say about half-a-mile along the road, must have been the result of a shower, a view which was favoured by the occurrence of a smart rain just before we came up, for the ground was quite wet. This was about half-past two or three o'clock in the afternoon of a beautiful summer's day. There was meadow land on each side of the road, and no stream of water for a considerable distance, and we took it for granted there had been a shower of frogs.

This was one of those popular errors in which we as well as others before us had been mistaken, and which has been perpetuated since the time of Pliny. Nevertheless it induced me from that time to lose no opportunity of acquiring information concerning the "Odd Showers" of both living and dead substances with which various parts of the earth are favoured every now and then; and as a number of materials accumulated in my hands during the period that has elapsed 29 years since our encounter with the frogs, they have been sifted to the best advantage and embodied in this little work, which has no other pretentions beyond attracting attention to a curious and interesting corner in the domain of physical science.

Before proceeding further a word about the frogs. On our return to the City of Montreal, they were for the time forgotten, until painfully and awkwardly brought to remembrance. Whilst taking tea with the company (which included several ladies,) in the drawing room at my relative's house, my frogs escaped out of the folds of my handkerchief and popped out of my pocket on to the floor. Not content with that they hopped on to the legs of the ladies who were seated around the table, and in a few minutes, this was followed by screaming and jumping up, when the mystery was quickly solved. All assisted to capture the reptiles which are now preserved in the Museum of the Natural History Society at Montreal.

Although the rain of frogs is one of those popular errors that is widely prevalent, yet it must be stated that a shower of these creatures is within the range of possibility, equally so with fishes and lizards, illustrated farther on, if any stream or pool of water containing them was sucked up by a waterspout or otherwise raised by a hurricane and transported to a distance more or less remote.

In considering the subject, it will be convenient to take those "Odd Showers" first wherein living things have rained, and then the various substances devoid of animal life. Those bodies which are presumed to have come from regions beyond our globe, shall come last.

SHOWERS OF INSECTS.

In our temperate climate insects have not been known in recent times to exist in such abundance as to constitute showers. An exception, perhaps, might be made in favour of Ephemerae, which have been seen to fill the air for miles on the banks of the streams in the Midland Counties, dropping towards the surface of the ground or water, like fine drops of rain; or as Reaumur has described it from observation on the banks of the Marne and Seine, "When the snow falls with the largest flakes and with the least interval between them, the air is not so filled as it was around me with ephemerae: scarcely had I remained in one place a few minutes when the step on which I stood was quite concealed with a layer of them, from 2 to 4 inches in depth." The water near was thickly covered with them, and as they fell obliquely, the eyes, mouth, and nostrils were filled. These insect showers are welcomed by fishermen as the forerunners of abundance.

I have seen the same thing occur in Canada in the months of May and June, generally May, along the banks of the St. Lawrence, where the Shad-fly (an ephemeral insect) comes as an annual visitor in countless swarms in most of the villages and towns on each side of that noble river as far up as Montreal, during the time that the shad-fish is tracing its course upwards to deposit its spawn. The fish at this period is caught in large numbers; the shad-fly forms the principal food of the fish, and on its first appearance the markets are generally well supplied with the latter. The quantity of these flies in the air resembles a heavy fall of snow, and everything is filled by them. On the banks of the St. Lawrence as far as the eye can reach, the air is filled with falling flies, as if they came from the clouds. Fortunately they are harmless, and do not last longer than from two to three days in any one locality.

The question is asked, Where do they come from? They are hatched simultaneously in millions from the pupa and aquatic larvae of the parent insects in all the streams and rivers, for probably an extent of many hundred miles on the banks of the St. Lawrence.

Showers of Phryganeae (Caddice-flies) occur in some parts of the continent of Europe, not unlike those of the ephemerae, when the air is said to be filled for a considerable distance. As travellers well know to their misfortune, Mosquitoes exist in some countries in numbers that baffle description, and their blood-thirsty habits induce them to attack one in countless myriads. They rain perhaps in equal, but not greater number than the ephemerae and their allies. The Gnats are just as bad. The larvae of these insects are aquatic, and abound in stagnant water, but it is doubtful whether they ever exist in such numbers as the ephemerae, although perfect pests to human kind.

In insect showers all must yield precedence to the Locusts. Clouds of these, according to the accounts of various travellers, are often so dense and extensive as to obscure the sun in such countries as the East, various parts of Africa, Tartary, Russia, and Poland. Their occurrence is easily explained: swarms of these insects appear in a certain locality, deposit their eggs, which soon come to maturity, and the larvae march onwards, eat up and devastate everything before them. In three or four weeks they are metamorphosed into the perfect insect, and mount in millions. Africa has been ravaged by them from time immemorial, and Holy Writ bears evidence of the miseries they have produced. In 1797 Barrow observed them in South Africa in swarms, covering the country for an extent of 2000 miles. Vast clouds frequently appear in Tartary, and extend westward into Poland and Russia.

Clouds of Ants are sometimes seen in Europe in August or September, just emerged from the pupa state. They have been compared to columns of vapour as they rise in the air or change their position, twisting and whirling about in various directions.

Of living showers, insects are unquestionably the most abundant, from the reasons which have been given; it is not so with other things. If fish or other bodies rain, it is from some unusual and peculiar circumstance, as shall now be shown.

SHOWERS OF FISHES.

Several well authenticated accounts of showers of fish have been placed on record, and now-a-days the natural philosopher does not doubt the actual descent of the fish, but that they should rain from the clouds. It is abundantly evident that, even assuming the fish to be carried upwards by means of a waterspout or whirlwind, they could not live for any length of time, and must soon descend by the natural laws of gravitation, when the forces that elevated them were spent. A few examples will suffice in illustration.

On Wednesday before Easter in 1666, a pasture field of two acres, at Cranstead, near Wrotham, in Kent, was all overspread with little fishes, supposed to have rained down, as there was at the time a great tempest of thunder and rain. Wrotham is far from the sea, there were no fish-ponds near, but a great scarcity of water. The fish were of the length of the little finger, and proved to be young whitings, and the quantity was estimated to be about a bushel; none were found in any adjoining fields. This account was given in a letter from Dr. Robert Conny, to the late Dr. Robert Plot, F.R.S., who it seems had promised the former an account of a shower of herrings. (Phil. Tran. vol. 20, p. 289.)

My friend, Dr. Arthur Fisher, drew my attention to a shower of pilchards he had read of. A shower of live fish occurred at Benares in India, in July, 1860, unaccompanied by rain. A similar shower, but accompanied by rain fell some years before at Agra. These were noticed in the local papers, and are referred to in the letter from the Deputy Commissioner, Dhurmsalla to E. H. Davies, Esq. Secretary to the Government, Punjab. To take an instance at home which was published in The Times of February 25th, 1859, by the Rev. Aaron Roberts, B.A., Curate of St. Peter's, Caermarthen. His account was that "On Friday, the 11th of February, there fell at Mountain Ash, Glamorganshire, about 9 o'clock a.m. in and about the premises of Mr. Nixon, a heavy shower of rain and small fish. The largest size measured about four inches in length. It is supposed that two different species of fish descended; on this point, however, the public generally disagree. At the time it was blowing a very stiff gale from the South. Several of the fish are preserved in fresh water, five of which I have this day seen. They seem to thrive well. The tail and fins are of a bright white colour. Some persons attempting to preserve a few in salt and water, the effect is stated to have been almost instantaneous death. It was not observed at the time that any fish fell in any other part of the neighbourhood, save in the particular spot mentioned. Appended is a paragraph on the case taken out of the Monmouthshire Merlin:

"SHOWER OF FISH. Much excitement has been occasioned in the valley of Aberdare by the fact of a complete shower of fish falling at Mountain Ash, on Friday last. The roofs of some houses were covered with them, and several were living, and are still preserved in life and apparent health in glass bottles. They were from an inch to three inches in length, and fell during a heavy shower of rain and storm of wind."

The foregoing is intentionally given unabridged, and as the fish fell in a living state it is quite clear, that they must have left their place of abode but a very short time before, which may have been fresh water, as they immediately died in artificial sea water, although this is by no means conclusive. Their tumbling in a heavy shower of rain, together with their comparatively small size, would favor the opinion that they may have been included in the column of a waterspout drawn upwards, which as it disseminated in vapour, was as quickly followed by a heavy shower, in which the fish descended.