THE OCCURRENCE AND ORIGIN OF AMBER IN 
THE EASTERN UNITED STATES! 
ARTHUR HOLLICK. 
A Recent Discovery OF AMBER IN THE CRETACEOUS 
DEPOSITS AT KREISCHERVILLE, N. Y. 
Preliminary Note.— A recent discovery of amber in consid- 
erable quantity, in connection with the Cretaceous deposits at 
Kreischerville, Staten Island, N. Y., may be found briefly 
recorded by the writer in the Proceedings of the Natural Sci- 
ence Association of Staten Island for November 12th, 1904, but 
without any extended description or discussion. The discovery, 
however, was found to have aroused an unexpected interest in 
the subject, and the preparation of this paper was suggested. 
Geologic Age and General Description of the Deposits —The 
deposits in question consist of clays and sands which represent 
a part of the eastward extension of the Amboy clay series of 
New Jersey and are included in the Raritan formation, which is 
generally recognized as middle Cretaceous in age and approxi- 
mately the equivalent of the Cenomanian of Europe, the lower 
Atane beds of Greenland, and the Dakota group of the West. 
At Kreischerville they have been extensively excavated for 
economic purposes and in what is known as the Androvette pit 
a section was recently exposed, consisting of irregularly bedded 
clays and sands, referable to the geologic horizon above men- 
tioned, overlain unconformably by more recent sands and 
gravels, the entire series showing more or less disturbance by 
glacial action. A view of a portion of the pit is shown in Plate r. 
Conditions Under Which the Amber Occurs.— The amber 
occurs in a stratum or bed, characterized by layers and closely 
packed masses of vegetable débris, consisting of leaves, twigs, 
1 Read before the Botanical Society of America, Philadelphia meeting, Dec. 
30, 1904. Investigations prosecuted with the aid of a grant from the Society. 
137 
