On Amber and on the Organic Remains found in it.

Abstract

Amber appears to be a product formed during the period of the Molasse. The forests in which the trees grew whence this substance was derived, were situated in the south-eastern part of what is now the bed of the Baltic, in about 55° north latitude, and 37°–38° east longitude. With the commencement of the diluvial period this forest was gradually (probably at long intervals) destroyed, being swept away by diluvial torrents, and possibly also by storms coming from the north and north-east, and the amber was thus drifted to the south and south-west, on the coasts and in the countries where we now find it. Amber was a resinous exudation from an extinct pine, Pinites succinifer , most nearly allied to Pinus abies and P. Picea , but differing from these in several respects. The resin exuded chiefly from the root stock, but also from the bark and the wood, as is still the case with the resin called Copal , and others. The different colours of amber are derived from local circumstances of chemical admixture. Among the fragments of vegetable matter contained in this substance those of dicotyledonous trees are chiefly abundant, and the tribe of Coniferæ no doubt occupied a great part of the amber forest. Of Pine there are at least four species, and with these we find Cypress, Taxodium, Thuia (five species), and also Juniper and Ephedra . Of leaf-bearing trees we find Quercus, Fagus, Carpinus, Betula and Populus ; and of underwood, Ericacæ with coriaceous leaves &c., forming in the