Palaontology: Saurians, Cetaceans, &c. 559 
and of the original discoverer, Dr. James Deane, who it appears, by 
the clear and modest paper lately brought before us by Dr. Mantell, 
was the first person who called the Professor’s attention to the phe- 
nomenon, expressing then his own belief, from what he saw in ex- 
isting nature, that the footmarks were made by birds. Let us now 
hope, therefore, that the last vestiges of doubt may be removed by 
the discovery of the bones of some fossil Dinornis ; and in the mean- 
time let us honour the great moral courage exhibited by Professor 
Hitchcock, in throwing down his opinions before an incredulous 
public*. 
Still, however, comes the question, what is the age of the rock on 
which the Ornithichnites have been impressed. Consulting what Mr. 
Lyell has recently written, we find that he does not decide this point 
further than by saying, that they were formed between the carboni- 
ferous and cretaceous epochs, the only remains hitherto found in the 
deposit being ichthyolites of the genera Paleoniscus and Catopterus, 
with some fossil wood. The presence of a Palzoniscus would lead 
me to suspect that the deposit might be of the age of the Zechstein 
or Magnesian Limestone ; for in Russia, wherever the calcareous 
matter which represents that rock thins out, vast tracts are occu- 
pied by marls, sandstones and conglomerates of red, green and 
white colours, which form the Permian system, and in these beds 
Palzonisci occur. If the fossil fishes from both localities be placed 
in the hands of Professor Agassiz, and a comparison be made of the 
fossil wood from Russia and North America, the query may be satis- 
factorily answered. In the meantime I cannot read the descriptions 
of this American deposit, and carry the Russian types in my recol- 
lection, without surmising, that in the sequel the Ornithichnite and 
Palzoniscus beds of Connecticut and the gypsiferous rocks of Nova 
Scotia, distant as they are from each other, will be found to belong 
to one natural group—the Permian ; and if this view be borne out, 
it follows that a bird analogous to the Dinornis lived at a period when 
Saurian animals first began to appear upon the surface, and when 
the last links of primeval or paleozoic life were not obliterated }. 
In this case the value of the philosophic caution given by Mr. Lyell 
will be very apparent, viz. that we ought not to infer the non-ex~ 
istence of land animals from the absence of their remains in con- 
temporaneous marine stratay. 
Saurians, Cetaceans, §c.—I am not aware that researches of the 
past year have added much to our acquaintance with new forms of 
vertebrata in the secondary deposits, though it must not be unre- 
corded, that our zealous contributor M. Hermann Von Meyer, has 
added to the list of Saurians of the Muschelkalk a new genus, which 
he describes under the name of Simosaurus. 
In Russia a very curious discovery has been made by Professor 
* Sce Geol. Proceedings, January 1843, Dr. James Deane ‘ On Ornithoi- 
dicnites.’ [An abstract of this paper will appear in a future Number of Phil. 
Mag. 
Pthis view has been strengthened by the researches of Mr. Logan, see 
note, p. 546, 
t Geol. Proceedings, vol. ili. p. 796. 
