moved in the process of commercial preparation of the 
amber by rotating the pieces in a barrel with sand and 
water, thus simulating the polishing action of surf on a 
sandy shore. Kirchheimer and Schubert agree that a 
search for pollen and spores should be made and, if these 
structures can be properly studied, may yield valuable in- 
formation regarding the composition of the amber forest. 
The total inclusion flora, as revised by Czeczott (1960), 
has almost twice as many tropical families represented as 
temperate (23% versus 12%). ‘Tropical plants belonging 
to such families as Palmae, Olacaceae, Lauraceae, M yr- 
sinaceae, Apocynaceae, Theaceae, Dilleniaceae, ete. are 
typically mixed with more temperate elements such as 
representatives of families as the Aceraceae, Saxifraga- 
ceae, Umbelliferae, Rosaceae and Hamamelidaceae. The 
largest number of families (46% ), however, are cosmo- 
politan, e.g. Gramineae, Liliaceae, Geraniaceae, Oaxal- 
idaceae, Ericaceae, Aquifoliaceae, ete. 
Various reconstructions of the amber forest and _ its 
environmental conditions have been attempted (Heer, 
1860, 1869; Conwentz, 1890; Caspary and Klebs, 1907: 
Bachofen-Echt, 1949; Anders, 1942; Schubert, 1953, 
1958, 1961: Czeczott, 1960, et al.). Because the most 
prevalent remains are of pines and oaks, the amber forest 
has generally been considered to have been primarily a 
mixture of these genera. Conwentz (1890) indicated that 
the oaks characterizing the forest were evergreen. Anders 
(1942), however, was puzzled by this conclusion, because 
so few of the many oaks could be shown to be evergreen. 
Bachoten-Echt (1949) and Schubert (19538) suggested 
that the forest was probably comparable to the present 
hammock vegetation of Florida with Magnolia, Cinna- 
momum and Sabalites occurring in patches amid pines and 
oaks. Thuites and Ilex were also abundant. Bachofen- 
cht emphasized that the many inclusions of grass show 
[ 250 } 
