248 Robert Harkness, Esq., on Fossil Footprints. 



with many distinct characteristics of their original nature. 

 Even the whole tribe of invertebrate animals have their ex- 

 ternal forms commonly so well preserved as to afford suffi- 

 cient evidence of their relationship to existing types. The 

 case is different with vertebrate forms, more particularly 

 with such as are inhabitants of the land ; for these, wlien we 

 have any traces of them, from the rocks which generally fur- 

 nish organic remains, are in such a state as to afford com- 

 monly only a fragment of a bone or a tooth, and yet from 

 such fragments the palaeontologist is able to fashion the 

 original animal of which these formed one part, to place it 

 in its natural habitat, to tell us whether it browsed on a luxu- 

 riant vegetation, or fed upon the herbivora which were its 

 companions on the earth ; whether, like the lion, it consumed 

 its food in its lair, or, like the hyena, dragged it to some dusky 

 cave, there to grind the bones of its victim at its leisure. 



The existence of former races of animals does not depend 

 solely upon the remains which their structm*e has left in the 

 form of their bones, teeth, or other solid parts. We have suf- 

 ficient evidence to shew, that forms, of which we have no 

 particle left, have at various times been inhabitants of por- 

 tions of our earth, leaving no other traces of their former 

 existence save their footprints on the soil over which they 

 traversed. 



The description of these footprints, and the inferences 

 which have been drawn from them, has given rise to a branch 

 of palaeontology called Ichnology, and to this branch we are 

 indebted for many important additions to our geological 

 knowledge. The Indian hunter, as he pursues that vocation 

 to which he owes his existence, acquires information concern- 

 ing the various kind of animals which are likely to become 

 his spoil, from the impress which they have made during their 

 progress from one place to another ; and the ichnologist, by 

 examining the different tracks which he finds on the several 

 beds of sandstone, arrives at a knowledge of the animals 

 which have formed these tracks, and also infers from them 

 what were the circumstances and conditions required by 

 these animals wlien they were tenants of the sandy shore, 

 which at early periods margined the tremulous sea. 



