118 ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 



distance. On the other hand, typically American genera, like 

 the oil beetles (Eleodes), have gained access to heights up to 

 8,000 feet in the southern spurs of the Rocky Mountains. 



Of fossil insects, in spite of Mr. S. H. Scudder's * classic 

 researches and Dr. Handlirsch's splendid treatise, we know 

 comparatively little. But our knowledge has been particularly 

 enriched by the discovery in the midst of the Rocky Mountains 

 of a deposit of shales containing a wealth of the most beauti- 

 fully preserved specimens of insects and plants. During one 

 of the volcanic eruptions, which were so frequent in Tertiary 

 times throughout the greater part of the Rocky Mountains 

 region, great masses of leaves and innumerable insects were 

 entombed among the fine volcanic ash, and were thus readily 

 preserved. Over six hundred species of insects are now known 

 from these Florissant shales of Colorado, which, according to 

 Professor Cockerell f are not of Oligocene age, as Mr. Scudder 

 thought, but of Miocene age. The absence of mammalian 

 remains, however, increases the difficulty of estimating the 

 exact age of these deposits. It is possible, moreover, that some 

 of the shales may be much older than others. 



I cannot leave the Rocky Mountains without expressing a 

 few words of appreciation as to the wisdom and forethought 

 of the Americans in preserving large tracts of country in the 

 wild state. These large land reserves, as Mr. Roosevelt ^ so 

 forcibly reminds us, are mainly to keep the forests from 

 destruction, but likewise to preserve, for future generations, 

 the wild animals that live in them. 



The first and most fadnous game preserve in the world was 

 established in 1872 and set apa'rt as a public park or pleasure 

 ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. Congress 

 provided against the wanton destruction of fish and game, or 

 their capture or destruction for merchandise or profit. As a 

 result of this wise enactment we find to-day thousands of 

 deer of various kinds in this magnificent world-famed en- 

 closure known as the " Yellowstone Park," the name being 

 derived from Yellowstone, the largest tributary of the Missouri 



* Scudder, S. H., " Tertiary Insects of North America." 



t Cockerell, T. D. A., " Fauna and Flora of Florissant," p. 160. 



J Roosevelt, Th., " Wilderness Reserves," pp. 23 24. 



