NO. 3 GRAND CANYON FOSSIL FOOTPRINTS — GILMORE 63 



Unfortunately Butts neglected to state whether the imprint figured 

 hy him was of the hand or the foot, nor did he designate whether 

 right or left, but from comparison with the specimens under consid- 

 eration it becomes quite apparent that the track was made by a foot 

 of the right side of the animal, clearly indicated by the posterior 

 position of the fifth digit. 



The tracks here described seem to have been made b}' a long-legged 

 (iuadrui:)ed walking rapidly through soft mud. for when the foot was 

 withdrawn the ooze closed in from either side in many instances 

 leaving only a narrow streak to indicate the imprint of the toe. There 

 are no indications of a tail drag. 



The foot plan, especially of the manus. shows some striking re- 

 semblances to that of the living Iguana (compare figs. 32 and 33). 

 The long slender acuminate toes ; two median digits of subequal 

 length ; divergent fifth toe and narrow pointed palmar impression, are 

 all features in common between the fossil tracks and those of the 

 Iguana, and at least permit the suggestion that in all probability these 

 fossil tracks were reptilian if not Sauri in origin. 



Genus CURSIPES Matthew ' 

 Cursipes Matthew, G. F., Canadian Rec. Sci., Vol. 9, 1903, p. 102. 



The genus Cursipcs was established by Matthew on specimens from 

 the Carboniferous of Joggins. Nova Scotia. The chief characters 

 distinguishing Cursipcs, as extracted from Matthew's description 

 would seem to be as follows : 



Generic characters. — Quadrupedal. Five digits in pes, three in 

 manus. Toes long and slender in both feet. Sole small in both manus 

 and pes. 



The ])resence of this genus in the Hermit formation seems to be 

 indicated by the rather inferior specimen briefly described below. 



CURSIPES, sp. 

 Plate 17, fig. 2 



A series of footmarks (No. 11.521, U. S. N. M.) more or less 

 obscured by the tracks of other animals stepping upon them, seems 

 to be referable to the genus Cursipcs, and if correctly identified marks 

 the first recognized occurrence of this genus in the Hermit ichnite 

 fauna. This specimen was found in the same locality as the other 

 Hermit specimens described herein. 



As shown best on the upper right hand side of the slab, the print 

 of the three toed forefoot was distinct from the hind and placed some 



