Hagen.] 300 [February 18, 



careful comparison of these samples with the Prussian strata would 

 afford a great deal of interest. In this connection the following ques- 

 tions would be of prominent importance. 



American scientific literature, so far as I know, affords very little 

 concerning amber found in America. The Geology of New Jer- 

 sey by George H. Cook, State Geologist (Newark, 1868, p. 283), 

 says, amber is found irregularly distributed in all parts of the marl 

 region. Specimens have been seen from marl pits in every county of 

 the region, but there is no certainty of finding other specimens in the 

 same localities. Pieces enough to have filled a barrel are said to 

 have been taken from one marl pit at Shark River, about twelve 

 years ago, but since that, in looking over many hundred tons of marl 

 there, not a fragment was found. The mineral is yellow in color, but 

 is not so compact or lustrous as good specimens of foreign amber. 



Dana's Mineralogy mentions amber, and Appleton's American Ge- 

 ologist, Vol. i, p. 445, gives as localities, Amboy, N. J., Gayhead, 

 Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Cape Sable, Md. 



Mr. H. D. Rogers, in his Description of the Geology of the State 

 of New Jersey, Philadelphia, 1840, mentions twice, pp. 180, 185, the 

 occurrence of amber. There is also a mention of American amber 

 in Silliman's Amer. Journ., x, 171; xvn, 292. For these few data I 

 am indebted to Mr. W. Holden, of Marietta, Ohio. 



Almost all my attempts to see pieces of amber found in America 

 have been unsuccessful. The University collections in Cambridge and 

 New Haven do not possess specimens. According to a communica- 

 tion from Mr. Ph. R. Uhler, in Baltimore, amber is found in Mary- 

 land, about twenty-five miles from Baltimore, in a lignite bed, 

 but in very small quantities, and he did not succeed in finding any 

 one possessing specimens. Through his kindness I obtained a small 

 piece from Pennsylvania, which, however, was declared not to be 

 amber at all, by the most experienced authorities in Prussia. 



Later I was favored by Dr. Endlich, from Reading, Pennsylvania, 

 with two small pieces of true amber. But as no locality was given, 

 and as the pieces formerly belonged to an apothecary, who profes- 

 sionally used to keep some amber in store, I can not consider these 

 pieces as of undoubted American origin. 



The discovery of amber in larger quantities in America would be 

 of the greatest interest. It would certainly contain here, as in 

 Europe, fossil remains, and promote the knowledge of the fossil fauna 

 and flora in a remarkable manner. The so-called insect nest and the 



