1791 by Gmelin, probably in reference to the place where it: 

 fruits were first found, long before the tree itself was known, bir 

 under the generic name of Cocos. To botanists it must now b< 

 known as Lodoicca maldivica (Gmel.) Pers. In 1792 it wa: 

 called Borassus Sonncrati, the specific name being given in hono: 

 of M. Sonnerat, to whom reference has already been made as at 

 early explorer in those parts. In 1805 Commerson gave it th< 

 name of Lodoicca callipyge and in 1807 Labillardiere added to it: 

 aliases by calling it Lodoicca scchcllarum, the name by which i 

 is commonly known, but this cannot be used, as the earlies 

 name takes precedence. 



George V. Nash. 



In the Journal for March, 1905, an article by the writer was 

 published, entitled " A Recent Discovery of Amber on Staten 

 Island," in which may be found a brief reference to the problem 

 of the origin of the amber. Since then, the locality, in the 

 Androvette clay pit at Kreischerville, has been visited on several 

 occasions, in company with Professor Edward C. Jeffrey, of 

 Harvard University, and considerable additional material col- 

 lected, consisting of a number of fine specimens of amber and 

 numerous logs of lignite, in several of which the amber was found 



Professor Jeffrey subsequently submitted some of these lignites 

 to critical examination under the microscope and identified the 

 genera to which they belong. One proved to be a Sequoia and 

 another a species of Araucario.xylon, allied to the living Norfolk 

 Island pine, and thus determined the- -origin of at least a part of 

 the amber. These, and other interesting results obtained from 

 the examination of the material collected were included in a joint 

 preliminary paper by Professor Jeffrey and the writer, which was 

 read at the New Orleans meeting of the Botanical Society of 

 America in January. The Society, upon a presentation of the 

 facts, made an award of $200 for the continuation of the work, 



