200 FOSSIL FOOTSTEPS 



Although these footsteps are thus abundant in the exten- 

 sive quarries of Corn Cockle Muir, no trace whatever has 

 been found of any portion of the bones of the animals whose 

 feet they represent. This circumstance may perhaps be ex- 

 plained by the nature of the siliceous sandstone having been 

 unfavourable to the preservation of organic remains. The 

 conditions which would admit of the entire obliteration of 

 bones, would in no way interfere with the preservation of 

 impressions made by feet, and speedily filled up by a suc- 

 ceeding deposite of sand, which would assume, with the fide- 

 lity of an artificial plaster mould, the precise form of the 

 surface to which it was applied. 



Notwithstanding this absence of bones from the rocks 

 which are thus abundantly impressed with footsteps, the lat- 

 ter alone suffice to assure us both of the existence and cha- 

 racter of the animals by which they were made. Their 

 form is much too short for the feet of Crocodiles, or any other 

 known Saurians ; and it is to the Testudinata, or Tortoises, 

 that we look, with most probability of finding the species to 

 which their origin is due.* 



markings occur in tiic Old Red Sandstone, which are referred by the na- 

 lives to the tracks of Horses, and the impressions of Patten-rings, and a 

 legendary tale has been applied to explain their history. They are caused 

 by concretions of Marlstone and Iron, disposed in spherical cases around a 

 solid core of sandstone, and intersected by these water causes. 



* This evidence of footsteps on which we are here arguing, is one which 

 all mankind appeal to in every condition of society. The thief is identified 

 by the impression which his shoe has left near the scene of his depredations- 

 Captain Parry found the tracks of human feet upon the banks of the stream 

 in Possession Bay, which appeared so fresh, that he at first imagined them 

 to have been recently made by some natives : on examination they were 

 distinctly ascertained to be the marks of the shoes of some of his own crew, 

 eleven months before. The frozen condition of the soil had prevented their 

 obliteration. The American savage not only identifies the Elk and Bison 

 by the impression of their hoofs, but ascertains also the time that has 

 elapsed since each animal had passed. From the Camel's track upon the 

 sand, the Arab can determine whether it was heavily or lightly laden, or 

 whether it was lame. 



