12 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 
Of the chemical results that Dr. Meyer and I have obtained in 
our study of your samples, the following, taken collectively, warrant 
the deduction that we were dealing with true amber (Succinite) : 
1. On destructive distillation, amber oil was obtained, which con- 
tained succinic acid. 
2. When heated in a narrow tube to incipient decomposition, the 
fumes contained sulfur in the form of sulfid. | 
3. The powdered material was more or less soluble in epichlor- 
hydrin, ether and alcohol. 
4. Numerous determinations of elementary composition yielded 
the following average data: 
Volatile matter 
с Н О 5 Ash 28 
77.87 9.11 12.57 0.35 0.10 0.4 
Nitrogen and phosphorus were absent. 
These results accord with the specific data that have been accu- 
mulated by various observers for Succinite. Some of our quanti- 
tative results indicate that your samples of amber are in some respects 
somewhat different, though not in essential characters, from most 
ambers already described. This is a result of no special significance, 
however, for ambers are variable mixtures of resinous products and 
chemical differences of minor import are recognizable whenever the 
data for composition of different samples are compared. 
Very truly yours, 
WILLIAM J. GIES. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIMENS 
ABIETINEAE 
Genus PINUS Linnaeus 
Remains of the genus Pinus are abundantly represented, in mate- 
rial from both the Androvette and the Drummond pit, by wood, 
bark, amber, dismembered cones, cone scales, fragments of needles, 
and short shoots which include the basal portions of needles and the 
reduced axes to which they belonged. 
The short and fragmentary needles are especially abundant in the 
fine lignitic debris of the Androvette pit and are also found, to some 
extent, in the clay layers, but in no instance was a perfectly preserved 
fascicle of leaves obtained, although they clearly show the presence 
