116 Amber and Jet in Ancient Burials. 



while watching- for his prey, was, like the biter bit, enveloped 

 also. "22 



Dr H. Conventz, of Dantzig, at the meeting of the 

 British Association at Ipswich in 1895, gave an account of 

 the Baltic and English Amber, and their vegetable contents. 

 After describing the different forms of Tertiary Amber, he 

 referred to the occurrence of succinite on the coasts of Essex, 

 Suffolk, and Norfolk ; the specimens are usually found with 

 seaweed thrown up by the tides. Dr Conventz described 

 the method of examining the plant fragments enclosed in 

 Amber, and compared the manner of preservation with that 

 of recent plant sections mounted in Canada balsam. The 

 Amber was originally poured out from the roots, stems, and 

 branches of injured or broken trees in the form of resin, 

 which on evaporation became thickened, and finally assumed 

 the form of succinite or some similar substance. In addi- 

 tion to the exceptionally well-preserved tissues of coniferous 

 trees, the Baltic Amber has yielded remarkable specimens of 

 monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous flowers." Dr Con- 

 ventz also says in his enlarged paper on the subject that the 

 Geological Age of this Amber period may be assumed to 

 belong to the Eocene period when the Amber forests 

 flourished. 23 



According to the Mining Journal, the war is likely to 

 have a serious effect on the Amber trade, as the great bulk 

 of supplies is derived from the deposits in the neighbourhood 

 of Dantzig and Konigsberg. The production from the Royal 

 Amber Mines in 1913 amounted to 427 metric tons, as com- 

 pared with 400 tons in 191 2. There is an increasing demand 

 for raw material to the extent of 20 per cent., so much so 

 that the price was advanced by the State factory at the 

 beginning of 1914. 



22 The Nature, Orujin, and Geological History of Amber, irith 

 an Account of the Fossils ichicJi it contains, by the Rev. P. B. 

 Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., Vice-President of the Warwickshire 

 Naturalist Field Cliib. pp. 2 and 7. 



23 Transaction of Section K, p. 855, British Association 

 Beport. I2)swich, 1895. 



