_Colonies and India_ quotes from a New Zealand paper the following
story:—In the neighbourhood of Turakina an army of caterpillars, hundreds
of thousands strong, was marching across the railway line, bound for a
new field of oats, when the train came along. Thousands of the creeping
vermin were crushed by the wheels of the engine, and suddenly the train
came to a dead stop. On examination it was found that the wheels of the
engine had become so greasy that they kept on revolving without
advancing—they could not grip the rails. The guard and the engine driver
procured sand and strewed it on the rails, and the train made a fresh
start, but it was found that during the stoppage caterpillars in
thousands had crawled all over the engine, and all over the carriages
inside and out.