144 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXIX. 



incident mentioned in Mrs. Smith's article. In the record <>! 

 this discussion may also be found a statement, credited to Mr. 



W. E. Hidden, to the effect that amber had been discovered 

 during the previous summer in the marl beds of North Carolina, 

 and a hearsay reference to a very large specimen from New 

 Jersey, which was ••found on the shore of Karitan Bay, and now- 

 deposited in the museum at Berlin, Germany." 



In I 885 were made the first discoveries of fossil plant remains 

 in the krcischerville clays (Proc. Nat. Sci. Assn. Staten Isld., 

 Dec. 12th, 1 885). These were subsequently described by the 

 writer {Ibid., Feb. 13th. [886) and at the end of the descrip- 

 tions may be found the following brief paragraph : " There are 

 also little masses of a yellow substance which I take to be a 

 fossil -urn or amber." Mr. Wm. T. Davis also found it there 

 subsequently, according to the following record: "Mr. Davis 

 presented unusually fine specimens of lignite, apparently coni- 

 ferous, from the clay beds of krcischerville. The specimens 

 were of the appearance and consistency of jet and contained 

 considerable amber," (Ibid., March [2th, [892). The above 

 mentioned material from Kreischerville was all found in the 

 immediate vicinity of the deposits recently exposed and probably 

 from parts of the same bed. 



Probable Origin of the Amber. 



In [894 the Cape Sable locality was visited by Mr. A. Bib- 

 bins, who succeeded in finding and collecting a number of 

 specimens of amber, some of which were included in the inter- 

 stices of a log of lignite and were evidently derived from it. 

 This lignite was examined by Dr. F. II. Knowlton, by whom it 

 was identified as a new species of Cupressinoxylon (('. bibbinsi), 

 or in other words the fossil wood of a Sequoia (".American 

 Amber-producing Tree," F. II. Knowlton, Science, vol. 3, i S96, 

 pp. 582-584, figs. 1-4). This identification is important for 

 the reason that it gives us definite information, for the fust time, 

 in regard to the origin of at least a portion of the amber in this 

 part ot the United States, and suggests a probable source for 

 some ol that at Kreischerville, where it occurs in close connec- 



