NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 301 



The clay impressed with these prints of rain-drops acted as a 

 mould, which transferred the form of ever}' drop to the lower 

 surface of the next bed of sand deposited upon it, so that entire 

 surfaces of several strata in the same quarry are respectively covered 

 with moulds and casts of drops of rain that fell whilst the strata 

 were in process of formation.* 



No, jou are not about to be dragged into a treatise on 

 ichnology, friendly reader; though, bt^heve me, you will 

 find the subject, pregnant as it is with evidences of un- 

 couth extinct forms that have passed away from life for 

 ever, wending their way over the shores of a half-formed 

 world, amid wind and rain, storm and sunshine, as mar- 

 vellous, ay, and as entertaining too, as a fairy tale. You 

 are only to be led to the contemplation of the ichnolites 

 from the Shrewsbury sandstone, as a fit introduction to 

 the crocodiles, which will next claim your attention. 



Professor Hitchcock, as we have seen, undoubtedly 

 claims his ichnolites as due to the presence of birds on 

 the spot where they were impressed ; but, as Professor 

 Owen well observes, any evidence of a warm-blooded and 

 quick-breathing class of animals at so remote a period as 

 the new red sandstone epoch, requires to be very closely 

 sifted ; and, accordingly, the chance of obtaining any 

 analogical facts, bearing upon Professor Hitchcock's orni- 

 thichnites, induced our Professor to spare no exertions to 

 obtain further insight into the problematical creature of 

 the Grinsill quarries. 



Dr. Ward kept a sharp eye upon the quarrying opera- 

 tions ; and soon, in addition to the footsteps, fossils were 

 from time to time found, secured, and liberally sent up 

 to the Professor, who was thus enabled to form a clear 

 opinion of the animal that had impressed the sands with 

 its feet. The result was the Professor's Descrijytion of 

 an Extinct Lacertian Reptile, RhyncJwsaurus articejjs 



I 



* Address delivered to the Geological Society of London on the 

 2\st February, 1840, by the Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. President. 



