CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 8. NATATORES. 



353 



noticed the remains of the gigantic Eplornis of Madagascar, as well as those of other species of 

 birds found on the island of Rodriguez. But all these arc supposed to be of comparatively recent 

 origin. The bones of birds of liigh geological antiquity have not been found in great numbers, 

 probably because they are hollow and easily destroyed, and because, also, by their means of 

 flight, birds have generally been able to escape those great convulsions of nature, such as floods, 

 landslides, &c., which have nigulfed tlie larger animals, wlioso bones are so alnmdant in the 

 ancient deposits of soils and rocks. Their forms are also so light, that, aided by their feathers, 

 they would naturally float on the surface of the waters, and thus decay and disappear. 



Nevertheless, in the tertiary deposits of India, Fi-ance, and England, the bones of several genera 



of birds have been discovered. In the basin of 

 Paris they have been met with in connection with 

 the bones of the Palctothereum, (tc. ; in the chalk- 

 clilfs near Maidstone, England, the remains of a 

 gigantic species of Albatross have been found, to 

 which Mr. Owen has given the name of Chnollor- 

 nis Diomcdeus. But although the bones of birds 

 are thus deficient in the more ancient strata, their 

 tracks have been discovered in various places in 

 difierent countries, and under circimistances which 

 prove that they must have been made thousands, 

 perhaps millions of years ago. The most remark- 

 able of these, or those which have been most 

 thoroughly explored, are in the valley of Connecti- 

 cut River. Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst Col- 

 lege, Massachusetts, first drew attention to these 

 curious relics, and he has, in various publications, 

 given the result of his researches in this rich geo- 

 logical field. In 1858, in obedience to a public 

 act, he made an elal)orate report on the subject to 

 the legislature of Massachusetts, which he entitles 

 " Ichniology of New England." He here gives a 

 great variety of details, and abundant plates, illus- 

 trative of the remains of which ho treats, a copy 

 FooT-PEiNT OF BRoxTozouM uiGA.NTEUM— THE ORIGINAL ^f ^^^^ ^^f whlch wc hcrc iuscrt. Thc gcucral re- 



EIGHTEEN INCHES LONG. 1^ i? j.1 1 1 i i i- 11 



suit ot these researches he states as lollows : 

 "liCt us now take a synoptical view of the species of animals that once lived in the Connecti- 

 cut valley, as made known by their tracks. As already stated again and again in describing 

 them, I expect that future discoveries will strike out some of these species ; but my prediction 

 is that they will bring a still larger number of new ones to light. 



Number of localities of tracks in the valley thus far 



discovered 38 



Length of the sandstone-belt containing tracks, 90 miles 

 Width " " " " 2orS " 



Whole number of species in the valley described 



above 119 



Number of bipeds 31 



Number of quadrupeds 55 



With more than four feet IS 



Without proper feet 12 



With au uncertain number 3 



Marsupialoid animals 5 



Thick-tued birds U 



Narrow-toed birds 17 



Oruithoid lizards or batrachiaus 10 



Lizards l'' 



Batrachians — the frog and salamander family 11 



Chelonians— the tortoise family 8 



Fishes ^ 



Crustaceans, myriapods, and insects 18 



Annelids— the naked worms 8 



Of uncertain place " 



What an amazing revelation is this ! Animals totally unlike any that now exist in these local- 

 ities, and whose likeness is only found in living species amid the eccentricities of Australia, 

 once lived and flourished here ! They were not only of strange forms— strange to these regions 

 —but some of them strano;e to the world, and in some instances of enormous size. One of the 



Vol. II. — 45. 



