said to have been ‘‘found on the shore 
of Raritan Bay, and now deposited in 
the Museum at Berlin, Germany.”’ 
(Trans. N, Y. Acad, Sci. ti (1883).86 ) 
Of special interest is the problem of 
the origin of amber. At the Cape Sable 
locality it was found in connection with 
a log of lignite, identified as the wood 
of an extinct species of Sequoia, the 
genus to which the giant trees of Cali- 
fornia belong, and it is interesting to 
note that at Kreischerville it occurs as- 
sociated with leaves and twigs of 
Sequoia heterophylla Vel. and S. Reich- 
enbacht (Gein.) Heer. Weare not ina 
position to say whether trees of this 
genus were the source of supply for our 
material, but it is fair to assume that 
they contributed toit. Other coniferous 
remains found in the same bed were 
identified as Juniperus hypnoides Heer, 
Widdringtonites Reichit (Etts.) Heer, 
cone scales of Dammara, the genus to 
which the ‘‘Kauri’’ gum tree of Aus- 
tralia belongs, and leaves of a species 
of Pinus, — 
Another.exceedingly interesting phe- 
nomenon is the occurrence of charred 
wood, evidently the result of a forest 
fire at or prior to the time when the de- 
posits containing the amber were laid 
down. This charred wood is entirely 
different from the lignite associated 
with it and was evidently produced by 
the direct effect of fire and not by any 
chemical action -such as that which 
changed. part of the wood into lignite. 
As man was not .in existence at that 
period in the Earth’s history the origin 
of the fire must have been due to some 
natural agency and as there is no indi- 
cation of any volcanic disturbances we 
may assume, “in the absence of any 
more likely theory, that it was due to 
lightning. - 
Mr. Wm. T. Davis exhibited a num- 
ber of hair and bone pellets, ejected by 
an owl, together with a specimen of the 
beetle 7rox erinaceus Le C., found feed- 
O2 
able period. 
ing on them, Other species of the genus 
Trox were also exhibited and Mr. 
Davis read the following paper on 
OWL PELLETS AS FOOD FOR BEETLES. 
On the 16th of April, 1904, I visited 
the grove of cedars on the southerly 
side of the Fresh Kill road near Gif- 
ford’s Lane. Under one of the trees I 
found twenty-three pellets of hair and 
bones of mice, thrown up by an owl that 
had frequented the tree for a consider- 
In some of the pellets the 
upper and lower jaws of the mice, with 
their teeth complete, were well presery- 
ed. The owl was not at home at the 
time of any visit, and the species was 
not ascertained. 
Owls capture their prey with their 
talons; the smaller animals are swal- 
lowed whole and the bones and hair, in 
matted pellets, are later ejected at the 
mouth. 
Looking Over the peilets that had 
been: threwn away by the owl in the 
cedar it occurred to me to make search 
for a 7rox, which beetle would find in 
the dry hair and bones just the food to 
its liking. Asa result of the search 
the little Zrox erinaceus LeC., here ex- 
hibited, was discovered It has been 
identified for me by Mr. Schaeffer of 
the Brooklyn Institute. 
At the meeting of the New York E£n- 
tomological Society, heldMay 19th, 1903, 
Rev. J. L. Zabriskie exhibited the 
snipped off butt ends of horse hairs that 
he had taken from the stomach of 7rox 
unistriatus, collected some years before, 
about a dead horse. He called attention 
to the fact that all of the hairs, which 
he exhibited under the microscope, were 
nipped off in the same oblique manner. 
The different species of 7vo2z, of 
which we have-so far found eight on the 
Island, are amongst the last insects to 
leave a dead animal. When the other 
scavenger beetles have departed from 
a dead mouse or bird for instance, these 
beetles attend and find a living. This 
exhibit thus well illustrates one of those 
economies of-Nature; what was useless 
to the owl and to nearly every other 
animal, was highly desirable to the 
little Zrox erinaceus, 
