ROOM I. 



FOOTPRINTS ON STONE. 



63 



responding surface of the overlying stone presenting, in relief, 

 casts of the imprints, and other markings. Some of the 

 recently exposed slabs are covered with small hemispherical 

 depressions or pits, produced by rain-drops that fell while the 

 surface was soft and impressible. 



CHIROTHERIUM. The quadrupedal Ichnolites at Hildburg- 

 hausen and Storton are of various kinds. Some appear to 

 have been produced by crabs or other crustaceans, and by 

 small reptiles ; but the most remarkable imprints are those 

 of large quadrupeds whose hind feet were nearly twice the 

 size of the fore feet ; a disproportion that prevails in certain 

 marsupial mammalia, and in batrachian reptiles. 



LION. 20. CHIROTHERIUM FOOTPRINTS ox SANDSTONE. HILDBURGHAUSE*, 

 SAXONY. 



( not. size.) 



a, b. Imprints of a hind foot and fore foot of the same animal. 

 c, d. Similar imprints of another individual on the same stone. 



The two slabs of sandstone from Saxony (in the wall case) 

 have well-marked tracks of similar footsteps, the surface of 

 one exhibiting them in relief, or as casts, and the other 

 in intaglio, or impressed. The hollow impressions of the 

 feet are always' on the upper surfaces of the slabs of 

 stone, and the convex casts on the under side of each 

 layer or stratum, the latter fitting closely into the former. 



