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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 famous game preserve in the world was 
established in 1872 and set apart 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. II., “ Tertiary Insects of North America.” 
t Cockerell, T. D. A., “ Fauna and Flora of Florissant,” p. 160. 
\ Roosevelt, Th., “ Wilderness Reserves,” pp. 23 — 24. 
