ANNELID-TRACKS FROM THE GASPÉ SANDSTONES. 111 
several branches and afterwards remain simple. The species from the Medina Sandstone 
may be regarded as the typical form.” If the word “ ascending,” and the qualification “ or 
branching” were omitted from the generic definition of Arthrophycus, the latter would 
apply sufficiently well to the impressions on the Gaspé Sandstones. But, the genus at” 
present only contains one named species, the A. Harlani, which is distinctly stated by 
Hall to be composed of “ stems, which divide near the base into numerous elongated 
branches.” There is nothing to prove that Arthrophycus was a plant at all, except that it 
appears to have branched upwards from below and to have had an ascending habit, two 
important if not essential features in which it differs widely from the Gaspé tracks. 
Taking into consideration all the characters which these markings exhibit, it does 
not seem practicable to refer the latter to any known genus of plants or animals. 
Their true nature and affinities cannot be satisfactorily elucidated, no doubt, until more 
perfect specimens are obtained, but in the mean time it will be convenient to designate 
them by a provisional and local name. On the supposition, therefore, that they are tracks 
or burrows of some invertebrate animal and more particularly on the hypothesis suggested 
in the “ Geology of Canada,” that they are annelid tracks, the writer ventures to propose 
for them the name Gyrichnites Gaspensis. At present it is impossible to say which of the 
characters are generic and which are specific, but the aggregate of both may be thus 
defined : 
Tracks or burrows of large size, consisting of simple, undulating, much elongated, 
slender, rounded furrows, of almost equal width throughout and marked transversely 
by nearly straight, continuous, subparallel and subequidistant semiannular grooves. 
General habit prostrate, never ascending nor erect. 
