464 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



which has been proved by the remarkable plant-remains of 

 temperate climes which have been recently discovered there. 

 The amber flora of the Baltic area under review contains 

 northern forms associated with plants of more temperate 

 zones ; thus camphor-trees (Cinnamomum) occur with 

 willows, birches, beech, and numerous oaks. A species of 

 Thuya, very similar to the American Thuya occidenlalis , is 

 the most abundant tree amongst the conifers ; next in 

 abundance Widdringtonia, a great variety of pines and 

 firs, including the amber-pine. Thousands of these, it is 

 supposed by the professor, might have perished, and while 

 the wood decayed, the resin with which the stem and 

 branches were loaded might have been accumulated in 

 large quantities, in bogs and lakes, in the soil of the forest. 

 If the coast at that time was gradually sinking, the sea 

 would cover the land, and in due course carry away the 

 amber and masses of vegetable detritus into the ocean, 

 where it was deposited amidst the marine animals which 

 inhabit it. But in higher districts the amber-pine would 

 still flourish, and so amber still continues to be washed 

 into the sea and deposited in the later formed greensand 

 and still later overlying formation of the brown coal. 



Reboux states that at the eocene epoch the bed of the 

 Baltic Sea was occupied by an immense forest, which 

 spread over nearly the whole northern continent. Dredg- 

 ing carried on at a depth of 64 feet below the sea bottom 

 has brought to light thereby two species of conifers, a 

 poplar, a chestnut, and various other trees. From the 

 conifers, the author thinks, ran the resin which, through 

 being buried in the earth, has become changed into amber. 

 The largest quantity of the gum appears to have been 

 derived from the Pinus succinus. More than 200 speci- 

 mens of objects have been found embedded in the gum, 



