56 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
A little farther’down we come upon a clump of Asclepia tuberosa, their scarlet 
blossoms blazing like torches set upon the hill-side. The root of this plant is much 
sought after by old-fashioned country doctors, who consider it a ‘‘ powerful rem- 
edy”’ for coughs, colds and diseases of the lungs. It has many common names, 
such as Canada root, white root, pleurisy root, &c. It is naturally an inhabitant 
of the prairies, but is often found growing in the woods, the only difference being in 
the stalks, which here rise more tall and slender owing to the more confined space 
in which they grow. The root is essentially the same. Many plants which grow 
almost exclusively on the prairies are found in the open places on the west side of 
these hills, such as the prairie sunflower and compass plant. ‘The seeds, no doubt, 
having been brought by the prevailing west winds, lodge here and flourish, con- 
tented exiles from their native homes. There is often an interesting mixture of 
wild and cultivated plants, the latter being probably from stray seed from the old 
gardens of the early French settlers. 
At the foot of a little ledge of rocks we find a pile of the dismembered limbs 
. of the red-leggéd grasshopper (that bandit from Colorado, famous for its ravages 
in Kansas), which looks curiously like the remains of a miniature cannibal feast. 
We have not far to go to find the Ogre; he is at home in his cave, or crevice in 
the rock, a great bloated, black spider, so gorged with the juices of his victims 
that he can scarcely move, and we easily transfer him to a bottle and send him 
on a long journey to a scientific gentleman in Massachusetts. These warm, sunny 
slopes are favorite places for spiders, and collectors of the arachnidae can find 
many different species. There is also found here a most gorgeous beetle, whose 
name we do not know. It is about half an inch in length, of a slender shape, 
beautifully striped in green and gold, with purple legs. It is not plentiful, but 
can occasionally be found in bare sandy places, running about in the warm sun- 
shine. 
One of the most interesting stratum of rocks in our hills is the Odlite, a 
granular limestone formed of small round grains, having the appearance of petri- 
fied fish roe, and takes its name from QOon, a Greek word for egg. It is a fine 
building stone, easily dressed, and was much used in early times in our city. In 
places it yields beautiful fossils, especially a large Pleurotomaria, a coiled conica} 
shell. Its striated surface, of a rich chestnut brown, having the appearance of 
being newly varnished, will vie in beauty with many a recent shell fresh from the 
sea-shore, and make a collector’s eyes turn green with envy. The fish remains 
found in our rocks are principally teeth, of many species, in excellent condition. 
The bed, however, which has afforded the greatest variety of fossils to our col- 
lectors is found at the extreme foot of the hills. Its upper part is a layer of shale, 
passing into a black, flinty stone, which rests upon a fine-grained, dark gray lime- 
stone. In many places this layer of shale is one mass of fern-leaves, of several 
species, but principally a species of Pecopierts. In other places the jointed stems of 
an aquatic plant of the rush family, takes the place of the ferns. A curious and 
interesting object is the fossil shells of several species of animals, which lived on 
