tropical Tethys Sea occurring to the south provided an 
excellent opportunity at this latitude for the occurrence 
of violent storms, in part comparable to conditions which 
exist today along the Gulf Coast of North America. Of 
the various groups of insects, Bachofen-Echt (1949) sug- 
gested that bark beetles probably did the most damage 
to the trees (Schedl, 1947). Czeczott (1960) speculated 
that the unhealthy condition of the amber woods might 
have been reflected in their insect fauna. This point, 
however, apparently has not been discussed by the en- 
tomologists. Feathers of woodpeckers in the amber in- 
dicate possible effects of increased damage by birds. 
Likewise, the presence of such parasitic fungi as T'’remetes 
and Polyporus, as well as members of the Loranthaceae, 
suggest these additional possibilities for physical injury. 
As pointed out by Czeczott (1960), the picture of a 
vanishing amber pine forest was so masterfully presented 
by Conwentz that it hypnotized workers for almost sixty 
years. Schubert (1958, 1958) was the first to ask what 
factor might have induced the excessive yield of resin. 
He suggested the possibility that trees might be more 
susceptible to injury near the periphery of their distribu- 
tion. He further suggested in 1961 that the abnormally 
intensified resin production must have been caused by a 
‘*strong disturbance of physiological balance.’’ As “‘great 
specialists,’ Pinus succinifera might have reacted to the 
change in climate in the late Eocene with the abnormally 
strong production of resin. This change in climate for 
the northern part of Europe was produced supposedly by 
the transgression of a sea from the northwest. However, 
in order to try to discover the reasons for such abundant 
resin production among living pines, a series of experi- 
ments were initiated (Schubert, 1958). Pines from Florida 
and I] Salvador are being grown under different ecologi- 
cal conditions to see what ‘‘geological-climatological”’ 
[ 257 | 
