Miscellaneous. 471 



Discovery of Footsteps of Quadrupeds in the New Red Sandstone of 

 Saint-Valbert, near Luxeuil (Haute-Saone) . By M. Daubree. 



In reporting the discovery, in the above French locaUty, of the 

 footprints described by Kaup as those of the Cheirotherium, and 

 which Professor Owen has attributed to the Labyrinthodon^ a gigantic 

 Batrachian, the author gives the following particulars as to the occur- 

 rence and characters of these remarkable impressions. He says, 

 " Above the great red beds which are quarried for building purposes, 

 some thin strata of sandstone, also of a red colour, and spotted with 

 pale green, alternate with clays of the same coloration. It is in these 

 latter strata that I observed the impressions, at the very limit of the 

 clay and sandstone. As at Hildburghausen, the foot first made an 

 impression in the clay, and the relief which the sandstone presents 

 on its lower surface is only the counterproof of the direct impression. 

 In their form, as in their disposition, the prints just discovered in 

 France exactly resemble those of Saxony, and belong to the same 

 species of animal." 



** By the side of the large feet there is also an innumerable multi- 

 tude of small ones, turned in various directions, only presenting four 

 toes, and somewhat resembling those of Batrachia." 



" A new circumstance increases the interest of the vestiges of the 

 Cheirotherium at Saint-Valbert. The mud upon which the animal 

 walked was sufficiently plastic not only to take and preserve the exact 

 form of the feet with their claws, but also to catch the inequalities 

 of the skin with as much delicacy as if it had been done by a clever 

 moulder ; these latter peculiarities are even reproduced in the counter- 

 proof. Each foot, whether anterior or posterior, presents in all its 

 parts, both on the sole and the toes, a granulation which is un- 

 doubtedly of organic origin. Beyond the footprints the surface of 

 the slab presents nothing of the kind. This granulation is very 

 regular, except upon some oblique ridges, where the sliding of the 

 animal's foot has caused a slight stretching ; they are small, rounded 

 asperities, the largest of which do not attain a millimetre in diameter." 



" Such an exact knowledge of the inequalities of the integument 

 of the CheirotheriuMy furnishes useful evidence as to the class of Ver- 

 tebrata to which the animal should be referred. The lower part of the 

 feet of Reptiles usually presents either more or less irregular scales, 

 gradually decreasing in size to the extremity of the member, or a 

 smooth skin with folds, or a few warts arranged in certain lines. In 

 no existing animal of the groups of Batrachia or Chelonia does the 

 foot appear to present inequalities of such comparatively small size, 

 and so uniformly arranged, as in the footprints of Saint-Valbert. 

 On the other hand, the asperities in question exactly resemble the 

 papillae of the sole of the foot of certain Mammalia, such as the Dog. 

 For facility of comparison, I have had casts made, with the materials 

 of the New Red Sandstone itself, of the feet of various quadrupeds, 

 such as the Bear, Kangaroo, Opossum, Crocodile, Lizard, &c. It 

 is observable that the hairs leave no traces upon the impressions of 

 the feet of many Mammalia, any more than upon the fossil foot- 



