Note 107 — LETTERS TO MERRETT.

Amber, writes Mr. Clement Reid, in a paper contributed by him to the "Trans. Norf. and Nor. Nat. Soc." (iii., p. 601), "is found on the Norfolk coast, usually mixed with the seaweed thrown up by the Spring gales," but is very rarely found in place; as much as three or four pounds are annually gathered near Cromer. The quality, Mr. Rein says, is very good, but the dark transparent lumps are most generally found. In a subsequent paper (op. cit., iv., p. 248) he enumerates seven species of insects which have been found enclosed, and in a third communication mentions an eighth. Mr. A. S. Ford, as the result of an examination of a collection of East-coast Amber made at Yarmouth (op. cit., v., p. 92), adds one species of Hymenoptera, three of Coleoptera, two of Orthoptera, with some Araneida, and remains of vegetable substances which had not been identified.

The Jet found on the Norfolk coast differs considerably from the Whitby Jet, and Mr. Reid, "Geology of the Country Round Cromer" (p. 133), believes that in all probability it was originally derived from Lower Tertiary beds under the North Sea, a few miles from the present coast. Mr. Savin estimates the average annual find of Jet near Cromer at from ten to twenty pounds.

The doctor does not display his usual acumen when he rejects the "ancient" opinion as to the vegetable origin of Amber, see Pseudodoxia, book ii., chap. iv.; also letter from Earl of Yarmouth to T. B. (Wilkin Edit. i., p. 411).