isgi. ENGLISH AMBER AND AMBER GENERALLY. 167 



belongs to the Lower Oligocene. Of course, the trees which pro- 

 duced the resin and the other organisms enclosed by it must have 

 existed earlier. For this reason we may, I think, assume that 

 the amber forests flourished in the Eocene period. It follows that the 

 plants of those forests are not at all the same as those of the recent 

 European flora, but rather that they bear a strong resemblance to the 

 present native plants of East Asia and North America. That is to say, 

 there many types of the oldest Tertiary remain still, while in our coun- 

 tries all the vegetation of that time has been destroyed by the glacial 

 period. In England, however, the love and appreciation of parks and 

 gardens is so great, and also the climate is so temperate, that we find 

 in this country a good many of the very same trees and shrubs of 

 East Asia and North America. It is interesting, therefore, to think 

 that people in the amber district of England are surrounded even now 

 by a vegetation partly resembling that of the amber period. 



In conclusion, in thanking all those ladies and gentlemen who 

 have had the kindness to assist my inquiries after succinite in 

 England, and who have presented many a notable piece to the 

 Natural History Museum of Danzig, which is under my charge, 

 I should like to add that I shall be greatly interested to hear of new and 

 remarkable specimens occurring in any English locality. 



H. CONWENTZ. 



