1883. 85 Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set. 



agencies concerned in the phenomena of life were quite different 

 from the other cosmic forces. 



Mr. Hitchcock stated that it had been suggested, in regard to 

 the distinction between living and non-living matter, that they may- 

 differ in the same way, as in inorganic bodies, atoms of the same 

 substance are subject to different arrangements — one mode of ar- 

 rangement being peculiar to Hving matter. 



Mr. George F. N. Kunz then exhibited specimens of the blue 

 amber from Catania, on the coast of Sicily, and a mass, three- 

 fourths of a pound in weight, of a very good amber color, and partly 

 covered with recent bryozoa, from the Tertiary deposits of Nan- 

 tucket, Mass. He also read a paper : 



ON A LARGE MASS OF CRETACEOUS AMBER FROM GLOUCESTER 



COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. 



(Abstract). 



About twelve months ago, a mass of amber of uncommon size and 

 form, (being tweni.y inches long, six inches wide, and one inch thick, 

 weighing sixty-four ounces) was found at Kirby's marl pit, on Old 

 Man's creek, near Harrison ville, Gloucester Co., N. J. A quarter-inch 

 section showed a light greyish-yellow color. A section one and one- 

 quarter of an inch thick showed a light yellowish-brown color. The 

 entire mass (surface and interior) contained botryoidal shaped 

 cavities, filled with glauconite, or green sand, and a trace of vivianite. 

 The hardness is the same as that of the Baltic amber; but it is slightly 

 tougher, and cuts more like horn, the cut surface showing a curious 

 pearly lustre, differing in this respect from any other amber I have yet 

 examined. This lustre is not produced by the impurities, for the clearest 

 parts show it best. It takes a very good polish. The specific gravity 

 of a piece of carefully selected amber is L061, and is the lowest density 

 on record ; the usual range being from 1.065 to 1.081. It was found 

 at a depth of twenty-eight feet, covered with twenty feet of 

 green sand or marl, in a six foot stratum of fossils, consisting mostly of 

 Grvphea vesicularis, Gryphea Pitch:ri, Terebratula Harlani, and 

 others. The upper part of the marl consists of a layer of limestone, 

 several feet in thickness, filled with Palorthis, echinoid spines, and an 

 occasional shark's tooth of the genus Latuna, and this covered by 

 eight feet of earth. The marl belongs to the middle bed of the Upper 

 Cretaceous series. 



No analysis has as yet been made of this amber, but the similarity 

 of the specific gravity, the hardness, and the ignition, leave little 



