132 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



records of them have been handed down for our obser- 

 vation, owing to the unfavourable nature of the sand- 

 stone for preserving organic remains. Amongst these, 

 however, we are able to enumerate turtles and tor- 

 toises, a little lizard having a bird-like beak and 

 probably bird's feet, birds themselves, some larger 

 than an ostrich, others as small as our smaller wa- 

 ders ; and in some parts of the world large reptiles 

 with powerful tusks, not surpassed in the extent 

 of their departure from the ordinary structure of 

 reptiles by any known aberrant forms of that strange 

 and varied tribe. 



Amongst the most striking of these objects, at 

 least on our own shores, would be the numerous 

 and gigantic labyrinthodons. We may imagine one 

 of these animals, as large as a rhinoceros, pacing lei- 

 surely over the sands, leaving deep imprints of its 

 heavy elephantine hind foot, strangely contrasting 

 with the diminutive step of its short fore extremities. 

 Another, a smaller variety, provided like the kan- 

 garoo, not only with powerful hind legs but also with 

 a strong tail, also leaves its impress stamped upon the 

 sand, although itself, perhaps, soon fell a victim to the 

 voracity of its larger congener.* These and others 

 of their kind, passing over the sands and marking 

 there the form of their expanded feet, marched on- 

 wards in their CQurse, fulfilled their part in nature, 

 and then disappeared for ever from the earth, leaving, 

 it would seem, in some cases, no fragment of bone, and 

 no other indication of their shape or size than this 

 obscure intimation of their existence. 



* In some cases we find, corresponding to a set of foot-marks, a con- 

 tinuous furrow, presumed to be the impression of a tail dragged along the 

 sand by the animal while walking. 



