384 NATURAL SCIENCE. 



JULY, 



been unfolded showed in the year's wood two rings instead of one. 

 These double rings in the Amber woods may probably be referred to 

 some cause similar to the one noticed by Kny. Parasitic Fungi are 

 common in the tissues of the various trees ; their abundance points to 

 a plentiful supply of moisture, and a temperature warm and congenial 

 for such parasites. Among other Fungi, Polyporus and Trametes have 

 left characteristic traces in the Baltic Conifers. Not only are their 

 hyphae found ramifying in tracheids and cells, but signs of their 

 ravages are apparent in the broken-down elements of wood and 

 cortex. Spores of Fungi distributed by wind and animals would 

 readily effect an entrance into the tissues of their hosts, where fallen 

 branches or the gnawing of animals exposed unprotected places on 

 stems, roots, and branches. 



Not only are there abundant records of parasitic Fungi in the 

 Amber plants, but remains also of Saprophytes have been found in 

 fragments of fallen and partially-decayed stems and branches. 



Hyphae of fossil Fungi have been noticed in fossil tissues of various 

 geological ages ; in the Coal-measures one finds them occasionally in 

 the cells and tracheids of Lepidodendra and other plants. The well- 

 known Peronosporites antiquarius, figured and described by more than 

 one writer, is a good example of a Palaeozoic Fungus (9 a ). 



It is not the object of this paper to enumerate all the organisms of 

 whose presence in the Eocene Forests Amber affords direct or indirect 

 evidence. The existence of numerous spiders and insects, such as 

 Butterfly larvae and Beetles, is shown both by their remains sealed up 

 in the fossil resin, and by their excreta and traces of their activity in 

 borings or other markings in the woody and cortical tissues. In 

 many microscopic slices of coal plants we may detect proofs of the 

 existence of xylophagous animals in their excreta lying in cavities 

 eaten out of the sound tissue (11). Higher animals have left equally 

 distinct signs of their existence, sometimes in the form of hairs, or, in 

 one or two cases, feathers embedded in Amber, sometimes in 

 characteristic markings on bark and wood, and in the abnormal growth 

 of tissues consequent upon wounds inflicted by animals in search of 

 food. 



Among other animals, the Squirrel, and a bird closely allied to 

 the recent Woodpecker, may be mentioned as two examples of the 

 Forest fauna which have been recognised in Baltic Amber. 



From this general and incomplete sketch of Amber and some of 

 its included fossils, we realise, to some extent, how important have 

 been the investigations of the resinous petrifactions and incrustations 

 as a means of focussing before us the life and conditions of Eocene 

 forests whose remains have afforded such abundant supplies of 

 Amber in the Oligocene beds of the German Samland. 



In the ingenious methods employed by Conwentz in his micro- 

 scopical examination of tissues fossilised in Amber, we have another 

 instance of the value of Palaeobotanical work. When supported by a 



