Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-26
FOSSIL INSECTS.
Curious Bugs Preserved In Rocks for Z
thousand AgeA


Thousand AgeA
DECIDEDLY THE MOST INTERESTING
~ exhibit at the international congress OF
biologists recently finished here was q col.
lection Of fossil insects that is said to be the
most complete in existence.
1t seems wonderful that things 30 fragile, &C
minute and SO easily destroyed as mere
insects should have been preserved in rocks for
millions upon millions Of years in such per-
lection that the very hairs which fringe the
wings OF certain very small varieties are visible
today beneath the lenses Of the microscope I'm
beddedin the scraps Of stone which make up the
collection referred TO to be the fossilized
forms Of all the principal species that fly and
crawl at the present time. In this shape are
found the entombed remains Of an ancient
host, SO varied In structure and SO closely
resembling their descendants OF this century
that they made be said to include practically
every group In tho range Of the insect world
as it Is now known. To the imagination they
repoPulate the past with buzzing swarms,
ahording evidence by their variety and the
surprising numbers In which their remnants
are found Of the fact that anciently all sorts Of
bugs, obnoxious and otherwise, were vastly
more plentiful than now. In fact there were
numerous kinds in the early days Of creation
which have since vanished from the earth.
FOssILIzED INSECTS IN COLORADO.
This was SO even SO late, comparatively
speaking, a. q few hundred thousand years
ago. during what is called the tertiary epoch.
At that period there was q shallow lake in a
little Colorado valley near Pixies Peak, which
is overlooked by mountain known modernly
as Gopaz Butte, though designated by miners
as Slim Jim. Streams into which insects fell
carried them to the lake. which has since van
ished. They were buried beneath layers Of
volcanic sand and ash. which fell into the lake
from some neighboring eruption, being thus
preserved, so that now biologists dig out their
fossils with pickax and hammer. One little
hill, which was formerly an island, bearing to
this day the erect trunks Of giant petrified
sequoia trees has been found q mine of these
bugs Of antiquity.
Buried in the ancient rock are mosquitoes
and gnats in abundance. There are gnats Of the
kind that feed upon toadstools and other fungi,
"robber flies. big and predatory bees and wasps
OF many varieties, ants OF all sorts, ichneumon
flies and saw flies. OF butterflies there are q
few and Of moths any quantity, the latter being
mostly Of the 'leaf roller" description, which
wrap themselves up in leaves for protec ton,
while caterpillars feed on the substance Of the
leafs inside, and when the provender is ex-
hausted roll the leaf q little more, fastening it
each time neatly with q silken band. Likewise
flies resembling the housefy are discovered,
and frefiies also.
An ENDLESS VARIETY OF BEETLES.
OF. fossil beetles the variety is endless There
are ground beetles, water beetles, June bugs,
blister beetles, such as blisters are made out OF
for sick people, seed weevils, snout beetles with
long probosces, buffalo bugs that have since
become q terror to housekeepers carbon
beetles, lady bugs and meal worms, which feed
on decaying vegetation for lack Of meal to eat
Also ''click beetles" otherwise known as skip
ping jacks" which jump and make a clicking
noise when laid on their backs. Dragon flies
there are, too, and it should not be forgotten
to mention the gall flies, the females Of which
lay their eggs in the bark Of trees and other
plants, depositing at the same time . poison
tissue, useful to the newly Matched young for
food and to man for ink and various medicines
THE cocKRoAcH WAS ABUNDANT.
However, Of all kinds Of insects in those
days the most striking and persistent type
seems to have been the cockroech. He was
everywhere, though his species was oven then
vastly less plentiful than In earlier ages, when
he may be said to have fairly run the bug
world. Millions Of years ago, during the so
called paleozoic epoch Of armored fishes and
queer crustaceans, the cockroach was present
in swarms. the excessively moist, warm climate
favorable to his propagation When the meso-
xoic epoch followed, and giant reptiles fifty to
Q hundred feet in length called the earth their
own, the cockroach was still extant, outnum-
bering all the other contemporary bugs put
together. His descendants, which now remain
to distress the housekeeper. are but few sur
vivors of race which is believed by many au-
thorities to have produced the lrst air-breath-
ing snimala