Treacherous Baths - Ladybug Washups W. Rachel Singley -- January
2010 Imagine that you are walking along a sandy shoreline and
while taking in the natural beauty you notice that the driftwood
and other debris are entirely covered in ladybugs! This is no
fantasy- thousands of beetles wash up on the shores of lakes and
ocean beaches all over the world. The first author to note that
ladybugs, in particular, were predominant among them was Thomas
J. Bold (1873) who wrote, “Visitors to our local [Britain]
watering places must have noticed occasionally the sudden
appearance of swarms of Lady-birds of various kinds. One of
these, Coccinella 11-punctata, not rare generally, will some
years appear in such profusion that every stone, brick, or clog
of wood lying on the sandy bents will be reddened by congregated
hundreds, but where they have come from, and why, is one of
those perplexing questions which it is impossible to answer
satisfactorily.” The phenomenon is called just what it is, a
ladybug washup, and anywhere