4 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



stomach of the fossil Mastodon found in New Jersey contained twigs 

 of Thvia oecidenfalis (found in the Amber-flora) ; and in the Erie 

 Canal, in New York State, at a depth of 11 8 feet there have been 

 found freshwater shells, together with portions of Abies Canadensis, 

 which still grows in the neighbourhood, and leaves of which are 

 recognized (though with some doubt) in the amber. The fossil wood 

 of the Drift-beds of Siberia, also, is nearly related to that of the 

 present day*. 



The height at which amber is found at the Castle on the Riesen- 

 gebirge near Helmsdorf is nearly 1250 feet [German] above the 

 sea level, and at Grossman's Factory near Tannhausen at 1350 feet. 



The amber is not derived from one species of wood only (Pinites 

 succinifer), as Prof. Goeppert formerly thought, but also from eight 

 other species, including the Pinus Rinkianus, in which A'^aupelt ob- 

 served the amber of Disco Island. 



It is probable that all the Abietinece and perhaps the Cupressinece 

 have furnished their share of the resinous matter (at first consisting 

 of various specifically different resins) that afterwards by fossilization 

 became amber ; and this is supported by the author's experiments in 

 the formation of amber from resin by the wet process, as in his expe- 

 riments on the formation of coal from recent plantsf. 



In form the amber is either like drops, indicative of a former 

 semi-fluid condition, or as the casts of resin-ducts and cavities. Large 

 nodular masses occur, which must have been accumulated in the lower 

 part of the stem or the root, as in the Copal trees. 



[T. R. J.] 



On the GosAiT Flora, near Salzburg. 

 By Dr. Constantine von Ettingshausen. 



[Jabrb. K. K. Geol. Reichsanstalt, 18.53, No. 1. p. 168.] 



The fossil flora of the Gosau marls of Aigen, near Salzburg, presents 

 several analogies with that of the Gosau-formation of the AVand, 

 near Wiener-Neustadt. Remains of Geinitzia cretacea, Endl., and 

 of Flabellaria Jongirhachis, Ung., are plentiful at both localities. 

 There are also found at Aigen some species, as PterophyUum creto- 

 sum, Reich., and Cunninghamites oxycedms, Sternb., which hitherto 

 have been met with only in the chalk-beds of Niederschona near 

 Freiberg. The Dicotyledons, which make their first appearance in 

 the chalk -period, are here represented by some new and particularly 

 interesting forms. Our knowledge of the Cretaceous flora, as yet 

 so little examined, is therefore much increased by means of this 

 locality, the discovery of which we owe to JNI. Lipoid. 



[T. R. J.] 



[* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. Part 2. Miscell. p. 66.— Transl.] 

 [t See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. Part 2. Miscell. p. 33. — Transi,.] 



