143 



it, some conception may be formed of its entire size, which must 

 have far exceeded that of the ostrich*: 



Now to apply this discovery to our Ornithichnites, one of the 

 great difficulties which many of us had to overcome was the gi- 

 gantic size of the largest American footsteps, which measured 

 fifteen inches in length ; and it is a most curious fact, that upon 

 placing the fossil cast alongside of the metatarsal bone and tibia of 

 the largest individual of Dinornis, Professor Owen is of opinion, 

 that if the feet of this great tridactyle bird be found, they will, from 

 the usual proportions maintained in such anhnals, be fully as laro-e 

 as those of the American Ornithichnite. From this moment, then, 

 I am prepared to admit the value of the reasoning of Dr. Hitchcock, 

 and of the original discoverer, Dr. James Deane, who it appears, by 

 the clear and modest paper lately brought before us by Dr. Mantell, 

 was the first person who called the Professor's attention to the phse- 

 nomenon, expressing then his own belief, from what he saw in ex- 

 isting nature, that the footmarks were made by birds. Let us now 

 hope, therefore, that the last vestiges of doubt may be removed by 

 the discovery of the bones of some fossil Dinornis ; and in the mean- 

 time let us honour the great moral courage exhibited by Professor 

 Hitchcock, in throwing down his opinions before an incredulous 

 public f. 



Still, however, comes the question, what is the age of the rock on 

 which the Ornithichnites have been impressed. Consulting what Mr. 

 Lyell has recently written, we find that he does not decide this point 

 further than by saying, that they were formed between the carboni- 

 ferous and cretaceous epochs, tlie only remains hitherto found in the 

 deposit being ichthyolites of the genera Palseoniscus and Catopterus, 

 with some fossil wood. The presence of a Palasoniscus would lead 

 me to suspect that the deposit might be of the age of the Zechstein 

 or Magnesian Limestone ; for in Russia, wherever the calcareous 

 matter which represents that rock thins out, vast tracts are occu- 

 pied by marls, sandstones and conglomerates of red, green and 

 white colours, which form the Permian system, and in these beds 

 Palseonisci occur. If the fossil fishes from both localities be placed 

 in the hands of Professor Agassiz, and a comparison be made of the 

 fossil wood from Russia and North America, the query may be satis- 

 factorily answered. In the meantime I cannot read the descriptions 

 of this American deposit, and carry the Russian types in my recol- 

 lection, without surmising, that in the sequel the Ornithichnite and 

 Palseoniscus beds of Connecticut and the gypsiferous rocks of Nova 

 Scotia, distant as they are from each other, will be found to belong 

 to one natural group— the Permian ; and if this view be borne out, 

 it follows that a bird analogous to the Dinornis lived at a period when 

 Saurian animals first began to appear upon the svirface, and when 



* See a most graphic sketch of this monstrous bird and its analogies 

 from the pen of my friend Mr. Broderip, Penny Cyclopedia {Unau). 



\ See Geol, Proceedings,. January 1843, Dr. James Deane ' On Ornitlioi- 

 dicnites.' 



