220 AN ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE THE ANIMALS THAT MADE 



figs. 1, 2, of the natural size, representing a hind and fore foot, is 

 copied from a very distinct specimen, sent me by Dr. King. The 

 above description has been derived chiefly from the same slab, No. 

 191 of my Cabinet. On that slab are several mud veins, some of 

 which proceed directly from the tips of the toes. This is, in fact, 

 just what we might expect from the desiccation of the mud ; 

 though, to an unpractised eye, it might throw doubt over the whole 

 subject. 



Affinities of the Genus. — The anatomist cannot examine the 

 tracks of this animal, or the sketches which I have given, without 

 at once perceiving their resemblance to those of some living batra- 

 chians. Their semi-palmate character, the number and bluntness 

 of the toes, and deficiency of claws, the want of phalangeal im- 

 pressions, the relative length of the toes, the supposed rudi- 

 ments of an additional toe, bear a striking analogy to the feet of 

 the Hyla Seurii and H. Gaimardi, for instance, figured in the Diet. 

 Class. d''Hist. Nat., Plate 125. Even the relative length of the 

 toes is the same, the outer toe but one being the longest. The 

 Thenar opus, however, did not move by leaps ; but as a tortoise ; 

 and it is possible that it might have been a chelonian. More prob- 

 ably, however, it was a batrachian ; and being, with the exception 

 of an unknown reptile discovered in the carboniferous rocks of 

 Nova Scotia by Mr. Logan, the only example of vertebral animals 

 so low in the series of rocks, it possesses a peculiar interest. 



Genus XV. ANOM(EPUS. 



Hind feet plantigrade, three-toed (four-toed ?); all the toes point- 

 ing forward. Heel long, extending to the tarsal joint. Fore foot 

 quinquefid, digitigrade. All the toes pachydactylous, and making 

 phalangeal impressions. 



