PE()CEEDIX(iS OV TIlK TIIIKIJ EM'OMOLOCUCAI. MEETING 985 



As regards the insects found in Burmese amber, Professor Cockerell 

 has stated that " it is evident that the amber was washed into them 

 [clay beds of Miocene age] from higher levels, and it is not i'mpossible 

 that it is much older." Dr. Noetling's jDaper § about this amber is 

 not available in the Pusa Library, but Dr. E. H. Pascoe, of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey, kmdly informs me {in lift., 28 May 1917) that the amber 

 mines are situated in the Hukong Valley in the extreme north of Burma 

 near Maingkhwan (Lat. 26° 15', Long. 96°25' approximately) and that 

 nine amber localities are reported in this ireighboiirhood. The amber 

 occurs in a blue clay of Tertiary age, which Dr. Noetling is inclined to 

 think is Lower Miocene in age. The amber is formd in irregularly distri- 

 buted pockets as flatfish pebbles. This evidence of wear and tear, 

 however, Dr. Pascoe adds, would not necessarily in his opinion denote 

 a much older age for such an easily corroded substance as amber, nor 

 does he know of any other evidence of a greater age. 



This Burmese amber, which has been called Burmite by Dr. 0. 

 Helm, 1 1 differs from ordinary Baltic amber by the absence of succinic 

 acid, the presence of which distinguishes true Baltic amber, which is 

 therefore known more precisely as Succinite. There appears to be no 

 evidence regarding the trees whose resinous exudations have come ' 

 down to us as Burmite. Succinite was a product of coniferous trees 

 and the New Zealand kauri gum, which is obtained in a sub-fossil condi- 

 tion, is also the product of a conifer (Agathis australis) but the East 

 African Copal, which is another recent and sub-fossil resin, is an exuda- 

 tion fi'om a leguminous tree. Burmite is usually transparent or semi- 

 transparent and bro-miish red or dark-brown in colour, but may be 

 ruby-red or yellow. 



Fossil resins have also been found in other localities, such as in the 

 lignite beds near Varkalay, twelve or fourteen miles south of Quilou, 

 in Travancore, and it is probable that search m such resins would yield 

 insect remains. I can merely indicate the possibilities to anyone who 

 has opportunity of investigation in such locaUties. 



Turnuig now to the insects which have been actually recorded so 

 far in a fossil condition fronr India, the following have been noted :— 



From the Inter-trappean terliaries at Nagpur. 

 Thirteen Coleoptera, four Buprestidse, of which one was named 

 by Murray as Lomalus hislopi and the other three were left unnamed 

 and are doubtfully Buprestids, and nine Curculionidae, of which one 



§ Rec. Oeol. Surv. India, XXVI, p. 31. 



II Rec. Geol. Surv. India, XXVI, pt. 2, pp. 01-64 (1893'' 



