182 Geological Gleanings. 



do good or evil. This is a great mistake and one that arises from 

 carelessness ; he who rejects an insect because it is small, is no 

 entomologist, and this he discovers when he happens to converse 

 with the more advanced in the minutiae of nature. In the Feb. 

 number of the " Zoologist" (English) there is a communication 

 from one of its correspondents, headed " What there is beneath 

 our JVoses." He says : — " My wish is to draw the attention of all 

 and sundry young men who have never bethought themselves 

 about the subject, to the wonders which the road-sides, quiet lanes, 

 woods, thickets, ' : moors, or amongst whatsoever kind of scenery 

 they may chance to be located, would yield them, if, instead of 

 frittering away and spending their time without a single thought of^ 

 seeing into nature, they would only lie in her lap fur an odd half 

 hour at a time, and recount to themselves a few of the many his- 

 tories which even a couple of yard's square of a grassy bank fur- 

 nishes. I feel convinced that one single experiment would aston- 

 ish them at their ignorance. It startled me considerably, some 

 few years ago, when I first heard of caterpillars taking up their 

 quarters in leaves of grass, and that they were to be found every- 

 where for looking after ; places where I had lain a thousand times, 

 either resting after a days' hunting, or thrown myself down upon 

 with a friend to enjoy our otium cum dig., being tenanted by scores 

 of larvae mining and working out an existence in such narrow 

 houses. Yet there they are sure enough, and abundant proofs 

 have been shewn establishing the fact." 



ARTICLE XVIII.— Geological Gleanings. 



Geology of the Western States. — Western geology is making 

 rapid progress, under the active exertions of many skilful ex- 

 plorers. In the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 Philadelphia, we have a long report on the geology and fossils of 

 Nebraska, so well known on account of the remarkably interesting 

 mammaliferous tertiary-beds of the Mauvaises Terres. Messrs. 

 Meek & Hayden, the authors, give the following summary of the 

 structure of the region : — 



General Section of the Geological Formations seen in and near the Black 

 Hills {descending). 



1st. Miocene beds consisting of whitish clays and sandstones of various 

 thickness. 



