ROOM I. OKNITHICHNITES. 65 



clined edges of primary or palaeozoic rocks. These deposits are 

 traversed from north to south, through an extent of eighty or a 

 hundred miles, by basaltic dykes, which have elevated the sand- 

 stone beds on the east, and partially overspread them on the 

 west, the strata dipping in the latter direction at an angle of 

 from 20" to 50; successive layers of sandstone are thus exposed, 

 and accessible along considerable tracts of country. From this 

 circumstance, and from the facility of transport afforded by the 

 proximity of the river, numerous quarries have, for many years, 

 been profitably worked near the water's edge in various locali- 

 ties in the valley of the Connecticut. About fifteen years ago, 

 attention was directed to numerous tracks of trifid imprints 

 which appeared on the upper surface of the sandstone, with 

 the corresponding figures in relief on the under face of the 

 superincumbent layers, and which were thought to resemble 

 the footsteps of gigantic birds. At length some well-marked 

 specimens came under the notice of Dr. Deane of Greenfield, 

 who communicated the fact to Professor Hitchcock (the Pre- 

 sident of Amherst College), and other naturalists, and the 

 origin of these problematical appearances became a subject of 

 earnest inquiry. Dr. Deane diligently collected specimens 

 from various localities, and Professor Hitchcock scientifically 

 worked out the subject, and in 1836 published the first 

 account of these fossil footprints in the American Journal of 

 Science. To this eminent observer is due the merit of having 

 established, upon scientific grounds, the true nature of these 

 enigmatical inscriptions on the Triassic rocks, and reduced 

 a mass of vague observations and conjectures to a systematic 

 arrangement of the phenomena in question. 1 The foot-tracks 

 are, for the most part, tridactylous (three-toed) ; but many 

 have a fourth toe directed backwards. Some resemble those 

 made by the feet of small birds, others of birds of moderate 

 size ; the greater number, however, must have been made 



1 In England, Dr. Buckland was the first to admit the correctness of 

 Professor Hitchcock's interpretation of the facts observed : see Bridge- 

 water Treatise, 1836, vol. ii. p. 39. I must refer the reader for further 

 particulars to "Wonders of Geology," p. 556. Dr. Deane (who first 

 directed the attention of naturalists to the fact) has communicated 

 several interesting memoirs to the American Journal of Science, and the 

 Trans. Acad. Americ. The most complete and scientific memoir on 

 the subject is that by Professor Hitchcock, in Trans. American Academy 

 of Arts and Science for 1848, with numerous plates. See also Sir 

 Charles Lyell's " Travels in the United States," vol. iii. 



F 



