14 Zoology of Colorado 



which he thereupon named Marquettia, dedicating it to the famous 

 Pere Marquette. 



The varying fortunes of fossil-hunting are well illustrated by 

 Mrs. Cockerell's discovery of a fossil butterfly. The only known 

 fossil butterflies of the Western Hemisphere are those from Floris- 

 sant, Scudder having described a number of species. For a long 

 time our luck in this direction failed, our most productive diggings 

 produced no butterflies. One day the lunch was forgotten, and 

 the party strolled toward the village, taking a somewhat unusual 

 path. A little of the shale was seen sticking out on a hillside 

 north of the sawmill, and Mrs. Cockerell sat down and turned over 

 a piece. There was the long desired butterfly, a beautiful specimen 

 showing the spots! It proved to be a new species, and was named 

 Chlorippe wilmattae, after its discoverer. Many times we returned 

 to that place, but without any success. The butterfly probably 

 flew out into the middle of the lake, far from the shore line where 

 most of the remains of dead insects and leaves accumulated. Altho 

 the specimen is a very good one, the abdomen and hind wings are 

 missing, perhaps eaten by a fish when the insect fell into the water. 



Some idea of the richness of the Florissant beds may be gather- 

 ed from the fact that in 1912 Professor H. F. Wickham of the 

 University of Iowa dug a trench about 20 feet long and six 

 feet deep. Out of it he got over 90 species of beetles, of which 

 more than 40 were new to science. He also got undescribed 

 insects of other orders. 



The Florissant flora, preserved in the shales with the insects, 

 includes species of redwood, fig, holly, magnolia, elm, beech, 

 walnut, chestnut, maple, poplar, pine, oak etc., indicating a warm 

 temperate climate. There are well preserved flowers and fruits, 

 and a great silicified redwood stump. A rosebud was found, 

 and leaves of several species of roses. 



