1832 THE MEDALS OF CREATION. Cuap. V1. 
changed by mineralization. In a bed of fossil wood, near 
Hythe, in Kent, a resin was found that partook of the pro- 
perties of amber and retinasphalt ; it was of a clear red 
colour, very infusible, and acted upon with difficulty by — 
many chemical solvents.* 
The pollen of pines or firs occurs in a tertiary deposit at 
Egra, in Bohemia; this bed is entirely composed of pollen — 
and the frustules of many kinds of diatomacez.t 
Amber, so remarkable for its electrical properties, and so 
largely used for ornamental purposes, is a fossil resin, the 
product of an extinct species of pine (Pinus succinifer), 
which, though nearly allied to Pinus abies, and P. picea, is 
essentially distinct. The Amber in the European markets 
is principally collected from the shores of the Baltic, between 
Memel and Konigsberg, being washed out of submerged beds 
of lignite, and thrown up on the strand by the waves. 
Amber is occasionally found on the eastern and northern 
shores of England. ‘The forests of Amber-pines appear to 
have been situated in the south-eastern part of what is now — 
the bed of the Baltic, in about 55° north latitude, and 37° 
to 38° east longitude, and were probably destroyed at the 
commencement of the Drift period. 
Insects, spiders, small crustaceans, leaves, and fragments 
of vegetable tissue, are often imbedded in amber ; and a few 
hairs and feathers of mammalia and birds have been de- 
tected. These organic bodies must have become immersed 
in this substance when it exuded from the trees in a viscid 
state, for they are often preserved as fresh and beautiful as 
if recently embalmed in the liquid resin. Upwards of 800 
species of insects have been discovered, chiefly referable to 
Aptera, Diptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Libellula, &c. : by 
far the greater number belong to extinct forms. 
The vegetable remains comprise four species of pine, and — 
* Geological Proceedings, 1843. + Described by M. Ehrenberg. 
