furnished important contributions to our knowledge of Tertiary life. Inasmuch as the pieces bearing such remains are valued more highly than ordinary amber, unscrupulous persons have at times found profitable employment in boring cavities into pieces of amber, introducing flies or lizards into them and then filling up the hole with some modern gum of the same color. It is said that all amphibious or water animals seen in amber have been introduced in this way. Besides the counterfeiting of the inclusions of amber there are several substitutes for the gum itself. These are chiefly celluloid and glass, the substitution of the former being dangerous if used for the embellishment of pipes, on account of its inflammatory character. Celluloid can be distinguished from amber by the fact that when rubbed it does not become electric and gives off an odor of camphor instead of the somewhat aromatic one of amber. It is also quickly attacked by alcohol or ether, and when scraped with a knife gives a shaving rather than a powder as amber does. Glass can be distinguished by its cold feeling and greater specific gravity. Besides these substitutes it has been found possible by heating and pressing the scraps of amber not large enough for carving to make them into a homogeneous mass which is sometimes sold as amber and sometimes as amberoid. Amber is worked to desired shapes by turning it on lathes or by cutting by hand. By heating it in linseed oil it becomes soft so that it can be bent and often all opaque spots can be made to disappear by such treatment. The amber which is most highly prized of any in the world comes from Sicily. Eight hundred dollars have been paid for pieces of this no larger than walnuts, making their value nearly equal to that of diamonds. The beauty of the Sicilian amber consists in the variety of colors which it displays, blood red and chrysolite green being not uncommon, and the fact that these often exhibit a brilliant fluorescence, glowing within with a light of different color from the exterior. Chemically the Sicilian amber is not the same as the Prussian as it contains less succinic acid and is somewhat more soluble. In other respects it is not essentially different. It occurs chiefly on the eastern and southeastern coasts being washed up in a manner very similar to the Prussian amber. Amber has been found in several places in the United States, but there is little of commercial value. It is mostly connected with the Cretaceous glauconitic or green sand deposits of New Jersey, fragments being frequently found there. This amber is of yellow color but not so compact or lustrous as foreign amber. Amber has also been reported from the marls of North Carolina, some of the coal beds of Wyoming and in connection with lignite in Alaska. In the latter region the natives are said to carve it into rude beads.