File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17538810774).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo16amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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44G rilK AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL new, in an excavation about twenty feet long and six feet deep. The amount of shale existing is such that it can hardly be exhausted, but it is very unfortunate that inexperienced collectors throw away many valuable specimens, looking only for conspicuous ones, while from time to time ^'ery fine things are preserved by confusion of mind regarding the money value of specimens. To a non-scientific person it seems highly illogical to say that an object is in one sense of priceless value, and in another only worth ten or fifty cents. The value of a new species of fossil fly or beetle, in a money sense, is of course very small, since neither mu-
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I'liiit the cliinalf of Florissant was onc<" both milder and moisler tlian il is today is evidenced by the plant re- mains found. Fig, magnolia, elm, beech, walnut, cedar, poplar, pine, oak, giant redwood, and other trees, formed a forest of mixed elements such as cannot be found together anywhere today. The redwood, now confined to Cali- fornia, was once widespread over the northern hemisphere and is represented at Florissant not only by foliage but also by large silicified stumps (Sequoia haydeni). (See Cockerell's Miocene Trees of the Rocky Mountains, 1909) the non-scientific as curiosities and are eventually broken or lost. Many species of Florissant insects are still known only by uniques, and in spite of the richness of the field it is impossible to have any assurance that species so represented will ever be found again. In some cases there is a not unnatural seums nor naturalists can afford to give large sums for objects which " bake no bread," and which at the time interest perhaps fewer than half a dozen persons in the world. On the other hand, such specimens form part of the material of science, and essential parts of the great structure of knowledge, and will continue

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