42 Mac Culloch on Animals preserved in Amber. 



of curiosity. It is, in another respect, important to show, that 

 such remains, if most frequently occurring in the recent resinous 

 exudations, are not limited to them ; since collectors, finding 

 themselves deceived in their own specimens, might perhaps ima- 

 gine that no genuine instance of an insect, actually preserved in 

 amber, exists. 



For the honour of the dealers in specimens, it is, however, but 

 justice to remark, that the difference is not, or at least not gene- 

 rally, known to them ; as, among innumerable specimens exposed 

 for sale which I have examined, I have never yet found any of the 

 proprietors aware of the distinction. False specimens seem, at 

 any rate, to be true in their eyes, as they are in those of the pur- 

 chasers. A very perfect state of preservation in such insects as 

 may be surrounded by any substance resembling amber, is gene- 

 rally a justifiable ground of suspicion respecting the nature of the 

 including material. It rarely happens that those insects preserved 

 in amber are perfect, or that they present the more delicate part 

 of the anatomy of the animal ; the wings of the hymenoptera, for 

 example, or their delicate legs. 



It would require too much nicety of observation for an ordinary 

 naturalist, perhaps too much for any one, to decide on the recent 

 nature of the including resin from the characters of the insect 

 contained in it ; when it is considered how many insects are yet 

 unknown, and how difficult it is to examine the enclosed spe- 

 cimens accurately. Otherwise, as there is abundant reason, from 

 the analogy of other animal remains buried in alluvial matter, to 

 conclude that insects enclosed in amber have belonged to a former 

 state of the globe, this difficulty might be solved by the entomo- 

 logical examination of the species. To ascertain the true nature 

 of the including material, is a task of great comparative facility; 

 and it is always sufficient for the purposes in view; that is, for 

 ascertaining, simply, whether the specimens consist of amber, or 

 of some recent resin enclosing animal remains. 



Where the exudation is sold in its natural state, the form of the 

 lengthened mass, or drop, is generally a sufficient evidence of its 

 real nature ; as no amber is ever found which has not undergone 



