and investigation of pollen sedimentation on the Central 
American coasts is carried out, all paleoecological con- 
clusions regarding the Chiapas mangrove association 
must be tentative. 
Despite the fact that it is not possible from presently 
available data to reconstruct the vegetation types at or 
close to the depositional site of the amber, certain en- 
vironmental conditions are strongly suggested. It ap- 
pears that, at certain sites, the beds from which the 
samples came were deposited under brackish conditions 
with a predominance of Rhizophora (Simojovel and Ma- 
zantic); in others, ina more coastal, saline mixed Rhizo- 
phora vegetation (Pabuchil and Huitiupan): in some- 
what less brackish conditions, suggesting deposition in or 
near a backswamp forest adjacent to Rhizophora (Portu- 
gal); or possibly in foreshore conditions in the vicinity 
of mangroves (Mina Palo Blanco and Mina de Naranjo). 
These data likewise support the geological evidence that 
deposition of the amber-bearing beds took place, in 
general, along a coastline of a shallow, tropical sea with 
occasional shoreline fluctuations. Evidence that the am- 
ber was produced by possible ancestral populations of 
Hymenaea Courbaril also receives corroboration, as this 
species today commonly occurs in habitats in which the 
resin produced could easily enter mangrove deposits. 
Likewise, the significant absence of Pinus in the amber- 
bearing beds, except for a rare, eroded specimen, seems 
to support a source tree other than pine. Since pine pro- 
duces such large quantities of pollen that get widely dis- 
tributed by wind, its scarcity tends to indicate that pines 
were probably not present within this vicinity. 
