1893-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 45 



flowers), Ranunculus aguatilis \2ir. stagyiatilis, Caltha leptosepala, 

 etc. It is the zone of Spruce {Picea Eyigelmanni), but Quaking 

 Asps are to be seen in diminished numbers. Three beetles col- 

 lected proved to be Amara terrestris Lee. , Pterostichus longulus 

 Lee. and Melanophila atropurpurea Say. Micsca sp. was ob- 

 served, and species of Lithobius and Julus. Various things were 

 collected in alcohol, but never got identified, with the exception 

 of Phalangodes robustus Packard, concerning which see ' ' Cana- 

 dian Entomologist," July, 1889. A saw-fly larva found on Sep- 

 tember 22d, was 14 mm.. long, reddish yellow, with a dark dorsal 

 line, last segment purplish. It is perhaps identical with one I 

 found on rose in Custer County. 



A CLAIM THAT AN ANCIENT BEETLE HAS BEEN FOUND ALIVE IN IRON. — 



Our fellow-citizen, Z. T. White, is the owner of what we believe to be the 

 most interesting insect and mineral specimen in existence. Some months 

 ago Mr. White was presented with a specimen taken from considerable 

 depth in the Longfellow mine of Clifton, Ariz. When the specimen in 

 question was fractured, a beetle of dull reddish gray was disclosed, sur- 

 rounded by a closely-fitting mold of iron ore; in fact, the beetle lay in 

 state as perfect as in life, in the sarcophagus of iron. Naturally, very 

 much impressed with his acquired property, Mr. White hastened to en- 

 velop it in a piece of cloth, with the view of conveying it to his cabinet. 

 On his way, however, he had occasion to examine the interesting speci- 

 men, and his surprise may be better imagined than described when he 

 perceived a young beetle slowly emerging from its dead parent's body, 

 and in every characteristic resembling it, barring the fact that it was 

 smaller. At the time Mr. White called the attention of the writer to the 

 fact, the young beetle was placed under a glass by its owner. It continued 

 to prosper and increase in dimensions and lived for five whole months. 

 The specimen, the insect in its cyst of ore and the younger insect gener- 

 ated in a prehistoric period to be born in the nineteenth century, are now 

 in the Bullion office awaiting Judge J. F. Crosby, of this city, who pro- 

 poses to present them, with the compliments of our fellow-citizen, Mr. 

 White, to a prominent scientific association of the Atlantic slope. Fossil 

 insects are common; beetles and other insects inclosed in amber and other 

 compounds are frequently met with, but geology in all these cases gives 

 an explanation to account for the appearance of organic matter, but in 

 this case there is no plausible pretext to account for the insects enveloped 

 in a matrix of iron and found far beneath the surface, no other traces of 

 organic life being present. It is almost beyond credence —El Paso Bullion. 



