INSECTS IN AMBER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 17

INSECTS IN AMBER

Using the panning methods of the Yukon gold rush, two Harvard (U.S.A.) scientists recently prospected for prehistoric insects buried in amber on the shores of- a lake in northern Manitoba, Canada. Millions of years ago, in the age of the dinosaurs, the insects were caught in pitch oozing from the trunks of coniferous trees. This pitch turned to amber, and the insects remained buried in the translucent resin. By shovelling material found on the lake shore into a large pan and letting water run through it, the scientists washed away lighter particles, and left the lumps of amber remaining on the pan bottom. In this manner, they accumulated nearly 400 pounds of amber. In it they discovered at least one primitive insect, a member of the wasp family, which is unlike anything known before.