December, 1S44.] 177 



the incorrectness of this opinion. '?• The hind toe of all gallinaceous birds is 

 comparatively short, and is articulated with the tarsus higher than the rest. 

 When the bird is walking, this toe. therefore, scarcely touches the ground at 

 the tip. In one stony track, the hind toe is long, on the same level with the 

 front ones, and the imprint is deep and vivid. 



No. 3, 1 imagine, is the track of an immense 

 Saurian reptile, for which I suggest the name of 

 Thenaeopus* leptodadylus. The toes are five, 

 slender, spreading, like an open fan, 160°; 

 they are two inches long, with distinct claws; 

 the extreme spread five inches, leaving an in- 

 terval of one inch between each toe ; the ball 

 of the foot is spherical, and near 2£ inches 

 across it. 



No. 4 is the Thenaeopus pachydadylus. 

 Toes are five, short and thick ; the imprint is 

 deep ; the spread of the toes b\ inches. The 

 track resembles somewhat the preceding, but 

 the toes are shorter, thicker, the imprint is 

 deeper, and the foot is considerably larger. 



Nos. 5, 6. I am unable to form even a probable con- 

 jecture in regard to the class of animals to which it 

 should be referred. There is certainly some resem. 

 blance to the order Digitigrada, but as it is extremely 

 improbable that these animals should be associated 

 with aquatic birds and saurian reptiles, or that they 

 should be even represented at this early period of 

 our planet, during its half finished condition, and 

 while the proportion of land to water must have 

 been far less than what it is at the present day, I 

 have almost abandoned the idea. It may have been 

 an animal in some respects allied to the Hippopota- 

 mus. At all events, I shall venture the provisional 

 name of Thenaeopus sphserodadylus. Toes are 5, 

 spherical, arranged in a circle, spreading about 240°, 

 or two-thirds of a circle. The ball of the foot is 



* From £ mp> a palm, and rfovj, a foot— a. palm-footed animal ; which 

 generic name may serve, at least provisionally, for several others of this 

 series of foot marks. 



