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rilK AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



new, in an excavation about twenty feet 

 long and six feet deep. The amount of 

 shale existing is such that it can hardly 

 be exhausted, but it is very unfortunate 

 that inexperienced collectors throw away 

 many valuable specimens, looking only 

 for conspicuous ones, while from time to 

 time ^'ery fine things are preserved by 



confusion of mind regarding the money 

 value of specimens. To a non-scientific 

 person it seems highly illogical to say 

 that an object is in one sense of priceless 

 value, and in another only worth ten or 

 fifty cents. The value of a new species 

 of fossil fly or beetle, in a money sense, is 

 of course very small, since neither mu- 



I'liiit the cliinalf of Florissant was onc<" both milder and moisler tlian il is today is evidenced by the plant re- 

 mains found. Fig, magnolia, elm, beech, walnut, cedar, poplar, pine, oak, giant redwood, and other trees, formed 

 a forest of mixed elements such as cannot be found together anywhere today. The redwood, now confined to Cali- 

 fornia, was once widespread over the northern hemisphere and is represented at Florissant not only by foliage but 

 also by large silicified stumps {Sequoia haydeni). [See Cockerell's Miocene Trees of the Rocky Mountains, 1909] 



the non-scientific as curiosities and are 

 eventually broken or lost. 



Many species of Florissant insects are 

 still known only by uniques, and in spite 

 of the richness of the field it is impossible 

 to have any assurance that species so 

 represented will ever be found again. 

 In some cases there is a not unnatural 



seums nor naturalists can afford to give 

 large sums for objects which " bake no 

 bread," and which at the time interest 

 perhaps fewer than half a dozen persons 

 in the world. On the other hand, such 

 specimens form part of the material of 

 science, and essential parts of the great 

 structure of knowledge, and will continue 



