occurs irregularly as small broken fragments to large 
unbroken pieces. Transparent, unfractured pieces are 
common, but many small broken pieces are brittle and 
fracture. ‘The color varies from clear crystal through 
various amber-shades to deep red. Chemical or physical 
analyses have not been made of this amber. 
Six spectra were made of amber from the Dominican 
Republic. Type I (H 37) is from a specimen from the 
Palo Alto de la Cumbre site collected by Sanderson 
(Plate X XV). Three others from an unidentified locality 
near Santiago gave a pattern similar to this one from the 
known site. ‘wo were run of specimens from USNM 
collection #R6783, from Palo Quemado, Santiago Pro- 
vince, Santo Domingo. ‘These samples gave a more 
generalized spectrum as represented by (H 427) than the 
other four (Plate X XV). They are designated as spec- 
tral ype II, and represent probably more oxidized 
specimens as indicated by the almost complete loss of 
the 11.34 (885 cm!) band. The spectral pattern is unique 
for North and South American ambers examined thus 
far. No extant groups have given a pattern similar to 
this, and, with correlative paleobotanical data lacking, 
there presently is no hint as to botanical source. 
Brazilian Amber 
A single piece of amber has been collected from the 
Pirabas Formation near Capanéma, Para, Brazil. This 
formation is considered early Miocene in age and is ac- 
companied by numerous dicotyledenous leaves (Lelia 
Duarte, pers. com., 1966). Spectrum H 452 is closely 
similar to resin from extant Hymenaea Courbaril (Plate 
XXVIII), especially from Brazil (H 61) and Costa Rica 
(H 252). Hymenaea thus appears to have been the source 
of this amber as well as that from Chiapas, Mexico. 
Perhaps future paleobotanical studies on these beds will 
give additional supporting evidence. 
[ 96 ] 
