No. 459.] AMBER /.V EASTERN UNITED STATES. 141 



Previous Records of the Occurrence of Amber in the 



Eastern United States. 



It is probable that amber is far more common in the Creta 

 ceous deposits of the eastern United States than is generally 

 supposed. The amount that may be obtained at the Kreischer- 

 ville locality alone is considerable, as evidenced by the relatively 

 large quantity that was obtained in the few hours devoted to the 

 work, from the small portion of the exposure examined ; and 

 reports of its occurrence elsewhere indicate that caret ul search, 

 with amber as the object in view, would produce excellent results. 



Probably the earliest published record on the subject is con- 

 tained in an article by (r. Troost, entitled : " Description of a 

 Variety of Amber and of a Fossil Substance supposed to be the 

 Nest of an Insect, discovered at Cape Sable, Magothy River, 

 Anne Arundel Count}-, Mankind " [Am.Jonrn. Set., vol. 3, [821, 

 pp. 8-15). in which he describes the amber as occurring with 

 lignite, and says (p. 9) : "This lignite seems to be formed of 

 three varieties of wood, or rather the wood has undergone three 

 different changes, some pieces oi which are entirely charred, 

 often changed into bituminous wood, and others again having 

 undergone very little change from the brown lignite. All these 

 varieties, particularly the brown lignite and the charred wood, 

 are penetrated by pyrites, and are sometimes entirely changed 

 into it." 



The above account is of considerable interest to us for the 

 reason that the geologic horizon in which the amber was found 

 at Cape Sable is approximately the equivalent of that at kreisch- 

 erville, and the conditions under which it occurs at both places 

 are evidently identical. The meaning or significance of the 

 charred wood presents an interesting problem, as it apparently 

 indicates the direct effect of fire, at or immediately prior to the 

 time when the deposits were laid down, and not that of any 

 chemical change such as resulted in the gradual transformation 

 of the wood into lignite. Further than this, its occurrence in 

 such widely separated localities indicates that whatever the 

 source of the heat may have been, the effects were far-reaching 

 and extended over a considerable area. The same author, in the 



