24 
that the true Amber has in any way been mixed up with 
this more recent gum, but there can be no doubt about the 
age of the Amber-earth, from the Baltic referred to in this 
paper. There are other kinds of resinous gum, viz : —gum 
copal used in making varnish, and a gum which is derived 
from modern fir trees, and all of recent vegetable origin, but 
all may be distinguished chemically from one another, 
Anemé is very transparent, copal differs from it by a faint 
opalescence, and a pale greenish yellow tinge. True Amber 
is derived from an extinct coniferous tree, perhaps from two 
distinct trees, though probably a Pinus, like the living Pinus 
Balsamea, and only existing in the earlier and later Tertiary 
epochs. It does not soften when heated like the other gums. 
This paper is by no means exhaustive. The literature 
on this subject is very extensive, and I hope on a future 
occasion to have access to some of the works, chiefly foreign 
but well-known, and to make any additions which may tend 
to increase our knowledge on this interesting question, and 
to make this article more generally useful and complete. 
The Annual Winter Meeting of the Warwickshire 
Naturalists’ and Archzologists’ Field Club, was held in the 
Museum Warwick, by kind permission of the Council of the 
Warwickshire Natural History and Archeological Society, 
on Monday, February 28th, 1871. The following papers 
were read :—Fortified Coventry, a sketch of the past and 
present condition of the defences, illustrated by plans and 
drawings, by W. G. Tretton Esq. On the Oolitic Drift gravel 
of Lutterworth, Kilworth, &c., by R. T. Musgrave, Esq. On 
Trees by the Rev. W. Johnson. There was a large attendance 
of members and several Ladies also were present. 
