^ 



TIKMAINS IX THK COAL-T'ORMATION OP N(»VA SCOTIA. 



(If) 3 



llic McfillX Uiiiv( isity. It shows indirntions ot* n fifth tot ; and wliile tho lonpftli of 

 (lio foot is less tliiui two inches, the sti'i(h? is about eij^ht inches, or more than four times 

 the length of tlie foot. 



5. Ihjlopuii UanHiHji, Dawson. 



I 'Air-breathers of the foal Period,' fig. 2, 'Acadian Geology,' Ord edition, p. 350, 



lig. 1:59.] 



This specimen, discovered by tho late Dr. irARnrxo, of Windsor, in the lower 

 carboniforous shales of I'arrsboro, indicates an animal of about tho same size with 

 //. FaxjiidI, and possibly nearly allied to it, but with five distinct and subequal toes which 

 arc long and slender. The footprints are about an inch in length, and those of the 

 fore and hind feet are separate and of about ef|ual size and similar form. The most 

 remarkable feature of this series is the great length of the stride, which is nearly five 

 times the length of the foot, and twice as much as the distance between the rows of 

 tracks, apparently indicating that the animal stood as high on its legs as an ordinary 

 Mammal. 



(5. ITjilopiix C'liiiJIfcr, Dawsox. 



[* Air-breathers of the C(jal Period,' fig. .1.] 



This is a slab with a series of footprints less than an inch in length and five-toed. 

 The rov.-s are distant from each other three inches and a-quarter, and the stride is 

 three inches. There are at intervals marks of a tail trailed behind. This impression 

 is. in my own collection, and is from the middle coal-formation of the South Joggins, 

 on gray I'ipple-mai'kcd sandstfinc 



In addition to the above, many oliscure iin|ir('ssions have been found, which no 

 doubt indicate several additional species. It is observable that in all the members of 

 the carboniferous series, these footprints have been foinid most plentifully in the 

 \icinity of those old ridgi's of land based on the older formations, which as I have 

 sliown in my 'Acadian (ieologv,' traversed the areas of de[)osition in N(jva Scotia 

 in the Carboniferous Period. On these isolated jiatches of land the Batrachians may 

 have continued to exist throughout the jteviod, luulisturbed by the oscillations of 

 elevation and depression which aflected the lower levels. 



It is evident that the smaller foot])rints to which I have referred under the generic 

 name Ifi/lojuis, may have been produced l)y animals akin to those whose remains are 

 found in the erect trees, though of somewhat larger dimensi(ms ; and it is instructive 

 to observe that at the beginning of tlie Carboniferous Period there nuist have existed 

 animals of this kind comparable in development of limb with the most highly endowed 

 in this way of the }ncrosain'ia, and of greater bulk than those whose bones are found 

 In the erect trees. 



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