found in Sandstone in Dumfriesshire. 199 



taining sometimes, though not in the present instance, a thin 

 layer of soft clay altogether distinct from the stone. I was told 

 by the son of the tacksman of the quarry, a person of some in- 

 telligence, that the tracks never appeared on a surface not of 

 this kind. Another remark of some importance, derived from 

 the same source, is, that all the tracks are constantly in a direc- 

 tion either up or down, sometimes inclining a very little either 

 to the right or left, but never running across the slope in any 

 considerable degree. This my own observation, so far as it goes, 

 fully confirms. 



No. 3. is a cast taken from a block which was also removed 

 from the quarry while I was present, and, like the other two, is 

 in my possession. The impressions it contains seem to be those 

 of an animal's feet in the act of descending the steep face of the 

 moist sand. The inclination of the slab as it lay in the quarry, 

 was I think greater than the ordinary inclination of the rest of the 

 strata, and might be upwards of 40. It was at all events so steep 

 as to render it necessary for an animal descending the declivity 

 to insert its fore-feet firmly in the sand before it could move with 

 safety ; and this the quadruped in question appears to have done, 

 by cautiously sliding one paw downwards, till its footing became 

 secure, and then extending the other in the same way, while its 

 hinder feet, following alternately, rested on the surface of the 

 sand. Assuming this to be the case, we might expect to see 

 the prints of the hind-feet also ; and accordingly, in the very 

 places where such marks might naturally be looked for, slight 

 depressions of the stone are discoverable, sufficiently well defined 

 to justify the opinion that they are foot-marks. If it be objected 

 that these depressions are too slight to correspond with the deep 

 cavities supposed to be made by the fore-feet, it must be remem- 

 bered that the weight of the animal's body would necessarily be 

 thrown much forward, and that the whole of its security would 

 lie on the efforts made with its fore-feet, the hind-feet being 



