the species, of course, are supposed to agree with living ones; but most of the genera agree well, except in certain groups, like the plant lice, in which there is a similar divergence throughout.

Owing to this singular constancy of fundamental structure, we are able to ascertain that some striking types now confined to particular parts of the world, were once very widely spread.

Perhaps the most remarkable instance of this sort is afforded by the tsetse fly, Glossina. Scudder obtained from Florissant an imperfect specimen of a large fly, which he regarded as representing a new genus and species. We were so fortunate as to secure a much better example, showing the long proboscis, and it was not difficult to recognize it as a veritable tsetse fly. The species, of course, is extinct; but the genus is the same as that now confined to Africa, where it is dreaded as the disseminator of some of the most terrible diseases known. What part the existence of such flies may have played in the destruction of the Tertiary mammalia we can only surmise; but it is not impossible that their influence was great. How it happened that they disappeared entirely from America and survived only on the Ethiopian continent is, of course, unknown.

Another discovery, hardly less interesting, was a species of Neuroptera belonging to the family Nemopteridæ. These insects are very fragile and delicate, somewhat dragon-fly-like in form, but with the most extraordinary hind wings-consisting of a long narrow stalk, with a dark-fiddle-shaped expansion at the end. One species of this family has been found in Chile, while others are known from the warmer parts of the old world. The whole group has become extinct in North America, but the fossil proves that it once existed there. Such a fossil as this not merely throws a flood of light on the past migrations of a peculiar group, but is the first and only indication we have of the past history of its race.

Florissant is famous for its fossil butterflies, having nearly half of the number known in that condition. My wife was particularly anxious to find a fossil butterfly, and often as we went out to work, we asked, would this be the day to yield the coveted treasure? Yet all the first season passed, and no butterfly was obtained. Toward the close of the second season, however, my wife sat down one day at a new place, to see what it might be worth. She had scarcely begun to turn cver the shale when, behold, a truly magnificent specimen! It showed the upper wings, the body and one antenna, the spotting still plainly visible upon the wings. It proved to be an undescribed species, but of a genus still existing in Colorado, though more common southward. When compared with the Scudder collection, it was seen to be the second finest of the butterflies, yielding place only to Scudder's in

comparable Prodryas persephone. During the same season we secured a second butterfly, much larger, but very poorly preserved.

When the fine butterfly was discovered, it was naturally expected that the new locality would yield other like treasures. Alas! it was worked all one day, with practically no result. Such are the fortunes of fossil hunting. While the first season yielded no butterfly, it did produce a wonderfully preserved caterpillar, still showing the bristles it bore in life. It is not the usual custom to describe a lepidopterous insect from the caterpillar alone; but in this case we had no option, since it could not be ignored, and it certainly could not be raised to maturity! Its characters were peculiar, so that it did not fit comfortably into any modern family, so far as we were able to judge.

FOSSIL NEUROPTEROUS INSECT (Halter americana) of a Family not now found in North America. (Much enlarged.)

Among the plants, one great treasure was a branch of the narrowleafed cottonwood, with about ten leaves upon it. Although the leaves of this tree are exceedingly common in the shale, such a magnificent specimen is very rarely obtained. During the second season another nearly as good was found; we packed it up with the greatest care, and sent it by express to Yale University Museum, where it arrived in safety.

The large specimens, however, are not necessarily the most valuable. One small but unique object was a tuft of moss, with the fruiting bodies upon it. This was the first really recognizable moss ever found

fossil in America, and it was appropriately transmitted for study to Mrs. Britton of the New York Botanical Garden, the best authority on It may now be seen in the great Botanical Museum

American mosses.

in Bronx Park.

Flowers and fruits are quite numerous in the shale, though, unfortunately, nearly always detached from the plants, so that they can not be correlated with the leaves. Some of them are very well preserved and easily recognizable; others, even though reasonably perfect, have puzzled all the botanists who have examined them. One curious specimen is a bean pod, with most of the beans still in it, but one just in the act of falling out. Grass-seeds are often found, and we have one which had just begun to sprout when it was overwhelmed by a fall of ash.

CRIMES OF VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO AND IN
GREATER NEW YORK

"H

BY MAYNARD SHIPLEY

RENO, NEV.

UMAN life is the cheapest thing in Chicago," recently declared Judge Cleland. "This city," he asserted, "witnesses a murder for every day in the year." Now 365 homicides a year would mean, for Chicago, that one out of every 5,614 of her citizens is destined to be murdered each year; or, in other words, that 17 in each 100,000 of the population would annually meet death at the hands of a fellow citizen. This would place Chicago on a criminal level with Lexington, Ky., where nearly 39 per cent. of the population are negroes. In Chicago the negro element forms scarcely 2 per cent. of the total inhabitants. As a matter of fact, however, whereas Lexington stands first in the scale of American cities in respect to the ratio of deaths by homicide to total population, Chicago stands about eighth in the list, showing a lower record for homicides than either San Francisco or Los Angeles, as may be seen in the accompanying table.

TABLE SHOWING THE ANNUAL AVERAGE OF DEATHS BY AND ARRESTS FOR HOMICIDE IN EACH 100,000 OF POPULATION, IN VARIOUS CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES, BASED ON REPORTS OF HEALTH OFFICERS AND OF CHIEFS OF POLICE. (Most of the averages given are for a period of six years.)

As the Census estimate of population is too low, the ratio of deaths by

homicide is proportionately too high.

2 Probably incomplete returns on number of deaths by homicide.

The annual average ratio of deaths by homicide in Chicago, as given in the table, is, for the six years 1901-06, 7.30 per 100,000 of inhabitants. The minimum for these years was 5.23, in 1901; the maximum was 9.26, in 1905, the ratio for 1906 being 9.17. The maximum for San Francisco was 11.90, in 1902; and for Cleveland, 8.57, in 1906. From these figures it may be seen that the "carnival of crime" in Chicago, in 1906, did not by any means place the Windy City in the lead as a "Scarlet City." While it is true that crimes of violence are increasing in Chicago faster than the growth of population, the augmentation has been gradual, and no greater, relatively, than in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland. Louisville, Los Angeles