$ Dr. Troost on Amber, &e. 
Arr. Ill.—Description of a variety of Amber, and of a 
Fossil uty on supposed to be the nest of an Insect dis- 
covered at ¢ Sable, Magothy River, Ann-Arundel 
i “Aarglands by Docror G. napa, oe Balti- 
more 
‘Tux Amber found at Cape Sable is either perfectly 
Opaque, of the colour exhibiting every shade of a mixture 
of yellow, grey and brown, sometimes so arranged in near- 
ly concentric zones as to sepley: the most beautiful colours, 
admired in the Egyptian Jasper, (quartz agathe onyx of 
Haiiy,) or disposed in ee bands, dots, spots, clouds, 
each as in the other agates and jaspers. It resembles also, 
often the mastich or gum sandarac, occurring in that case al- 
ways as this gum resin does in tears, and is then wax or hon- 
ey yellow: sometimes with a won a of brown, and sometimes 
ddisk yellow 2 or th. ‘The | 
aya variety 
occurs seldom. A is again translucent, resembling near- 
want s case, in its ‘external appearance, the resin or colo- 
phony. The lustre of some is very considerable, and of 
rly of some of the opaque varieties, is dull. 
It breaks sanity exhibiting a perfectly conchoidal fracture, 
and i is of the same hardness with the amber of the Baltic. 
Its specific gravity varies from 1,07 to 1,180. This dif- 
ference is no doubt owing to small particles of pyrites; with 
which the cavities + apes map gp ined. 
“specimens have only a slight de se clectrcit ; 
whilst ethers. possess this oie ~ high Hegren: . 
Itis — of a good po 
2d Var ns Rett pe | ‘This usually occurs. in 
ban a dull eanhy t ‘bette with pyrites. “Its so- 
lidity does not excee “des of elute ok ber or of a stiff 
soil, with which, externally, it has some resemblance, and 
like this, crumbles by friction between the fingers. Its 
colour is gray or yellowish gray like ashes—by exposure to 
heat Psat ee gives out the smell of common amber, and 
in de 
cher ao from the size of a mustard seed to that of 
pieces 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Its external surface 
