250 AN ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE THE ANIMALS THAT MADE 



Conclusion. — I have thus presented the results of more than 

 thirteen years' examination of an obscure and difficult branch of 

 paleontology. In endeavouring to give definiteness and system to 

 its materials, by an application of the laws of zoology and com- 

 parative anatomy, I know that I have undertaken a difficult task. 

 It is no easy matter to restore animals from mere fragments of their 

 skeletons ; yet to recall them into existence from the evidence of 

 their tracks must be still more perplexing. Hence I hope I may 

 claim much indulgence from naturalists, in what they may regard 

 as a bold attempt. Whether they admit my conclusions or not, 

 I trust that they will see that this curious subject is making rapid 

 progress. I had thought, long ago, that I had got nearly to the end 

 of the chapter upon it, so far as the Connecticut valley is con- 

 cerned. But within a year or two, and with comparatively feeble 

 efforts, some of the most interesting and important of all the facts 

 relating to footmarks have come to light, modifying considerably 

 our previous conclusions, and giving us new and more remarkable 

 insight into the former zoological condition of New England. It 

 is no idle boast to say, that I have devoted much time, and labor, 

 and thought, to these mementos of the races that, in the dawn of 

 animal existence in the Connecticut valley, tenanted the shores of 

 its rivers and estuaries. Whatever doubts we may entertain as to 

 the exact place on the zoological scale which these animals occu- 

 pied, one feels sure that many of them were peculiar and gigantic ; 

 and I have experienced all the excitement of romance, as I have 

 gone back into those immensely remote ages, and watched those 

 shores along which these enormous and heteroclitic beings walked. 

 Now I have seen, in scientific vision, an apterous bird, some twelve 

 or fifteen feet high, — nay, large flocks of them, — walking over 

 the muddy surface, followed by many others of analogous character, 



