A brief review of literature on insect dispersal with mention of the modes
of transport across oceans, aerial densities, effects of weather, and early observations and
collections from aircraft and ships at sea serves to introduce the ship trapping program
started by Bishop Museum in 1957 as a phase of its studies of the zoogeography and evolution of insects in the Pacific. A resume of the collecting equipment and a summary of
the insects reported from 1957 through 1966 is presented. Three separate collections from
the Yellow Sea were selected in an attempt to postulate several possible trajectories from
the point of collection at sea to the probable point of origin on land. Mention is made
of the shift from a qualitative to a quantitative approach to the problem.