iSgS. ENGLISH AMBER AND AMBER GENERALLY. loi 



succinite is much more frequent in the diluvial deposits of Middle 

 Europe, especially in North Germany, Poland, Holland, Denmark, 

 and South Sweden ; and washed out of these deposits, it is carried 

 away and dropped down to the bottom of the sea or is carried ashore. 

 Thus it is to be found on the south coast of Finland, on the islands 

 of Osel, bland and Bornholm, as well as on the Dutch coast (Rottum, 

 Schiermonnikoog, Scheveningen, etc.) and on the south-east coast 

 of England. The physical and chemical qualities, and also the 

 vegetable and animal enclosures, prove that the amber from the 

 shores of the German Sea is, almost without exception, true succinite. 



English amber in general has been well known for a long time, 

 and lately the monographer of Norfolk geology, Mr. Clement Reid, 

 has drawn the attention of scientific men to this fossil resin. I have 

 more recently also become acquainted with it, and have had the 

 opportunity of learning something more about it at Ipswich. The 

 most southern locality I know for its occurrence is Walton-on-the- 

 Naze, in Essex, and I have seen some small pieces from Walton in 

 the mineralogical collection of the Natural History Branch of the 

 British Museum. I have also seen a large number of specimens in 

 the county of Suffolk, particularly from Felixstowe Beach, through 

 the kindness of Miss Tiny Gower, Mrs. Charlotte L. Ransome, Mrs. 

 Sims, and Mr. Henry Miller, of Ipswich. Mrs. Sims has about forty 

 pieces, the largest of which weighs more than one kilogram. They 

 show various gradations of colour, from light yellow to dark reddish 

 brown, and a few look just like glessite, but their microscopical struc- 

 ture is different. Further, I am told that Mr. C. T. Townsend has 

 had for the last thirty-five years a piece of amber found on the West 

 Rocks, near Ipswich, which weighed more than loo grams. I have 

 also heard of the occurrence of amber at Orford Ness and Aldeburgh, 

 in Suffolk. Mr. Robert I. Candon, at Southwold, states that for 

 several years he has bought from local fishermen lumps of amber 

 which have either been found on the shore or brought up in the 

 fishing-nets. 



In Norfolk, also, succinite is found. First, Mr. Clement Reid has 

 described, in the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society (vol. iii., p. 602), a transparent and wine-coloured amber, 

 from Yarmouth Beach, containing three flies. Mrs. Burwood, of 

 Yarmouth, possesses many specimens, a good many of which were 

 brought in by the fishermen and purchased from them. A note on 

 this collection is published by Mr. Alfred S. Foord in the same 

 Transactions (vol. v., p. 92). According to this account, most pieces are 

 of a rich wine-yellow colour ; however, there are several of a lemon- 

 yellow, and a few quite opaque, looking like ivory. The locality of 

 one of these latter is accurately known, for it was picked up on the 

 beach at Winterton, about nine miles north of Yarmouth. It is true 

 I have not seen all the specimens from Orford Ness, Aldeburgh, 

 Southwold, Yarmouth, and Winterton, but I incline to think that 



