170 Amber ; its Origin and History. [ April, 
as those which are found in the overlying ferruginous sandstone. 
Mr. C. Mayer, of Zurich, determined thirty-five species of these fossils 
in the year 1860.* Among them the most abundant are an oyster 
(Ostrea ventilabrum, Goldt.), a small cockle (Cardiwm vulgatis- 
simum, Mayer), Pectunculus polyodontus, Phil., Natica Nyste, 
D’Orb., Morchia Nysti, Gal, besides two species of Spatangus (8S. 
Sambiensis, Beyr., and S. bigibbus, Beyr.), a small Hchinus and a 
Scutella (S. Germanica, Beyr.); as well as a Crab related to the 
living Carcinus moenas; finally, there. occurred in the greatest 
abundance species of Hschara and Cellepora. 
The conclusion which Mr. Mayer has drawn from his examination 
is that the “Glauconitic Sand” of Samland is of the same age as 
the Glauconitic Sand of Egeln near Magdeburg, and of Lethen in 
Belgium, and therefore belongs to the Eocene or Lower Oligocene 
division of the Tertiary formation. 
From the circumstances previously mentioned it follows that 
the Amber in the “ Amber-earth” by no means lies in its original 
bed, that is, not in the soil of the old forest in which the Amber- 
pines grew; but that the whole deposit of the “ Glauconitic Sand,” 
so far as we have hitherto considered it, is a marine formation ; and 
that the Amber was washed into it by the sea in which the crabs, 
sea-urchins, and oysters lived. From the habits of these animals, 
and from the form of the pieces of Amber, it may be inferred that 
the deposition of the latter occurred not very far from the shore ; 
and from the condition of the Amber, that its deposition took place 
in a proportionately short time, and that considerable stores of it 
must have been collected in neighbouring localities. In the beds 
above and below the “ Amber-earth” only a few isolated pieces of 
Amber occur. 
The southern deposit of the “ Glauconitic Sand,” which com- 
mences near the village of Kreislacken on the west coast (Fig. IIL, 
4,5,6A), behaves somewhat differently. Here the distance between 
the base of the “ Amber-earth” and the upper margin of the “ Green 
Sand” is less than anywhere else, namely, scarcely 30 feet, notwith- 
standing that the “Amber-earth” is 8 feet thick. Towards the 
south, however, the latter not only descends lower, but also increases 
in thickness, so that in a distance of half a German mile, near the 
village of Kraxtepellen, the thickness of the formation has increased 
to more than 50 feet, and that of the “ Amber-earth ” to more than 
20 feet. This is caused by the coming in here of five different beds 
above one another from south to north. The Amber-earth is here 
composed of two different layers (Fig. III., 6, a', a®), each of which 
is covered with a bed of quicksand, and the lower of which is dis- 
* «Die Faunula des marinen Sandsteines in Kleinkuhren .bei Kénigsberg.’ 
Vierteljahresschrift der naturforchenden Gesellschaft in Zurich. Jahrg. 1861, 
p. 109. 
