Miscellanies. 397 



The thumb is slightly bent back, and pointed, and the toes were 

 armed with nails. 



Traces of one animal have been observed in a continuous line on 

 a slab ten yards long. The length of the step varies a little, but in 

 general, the distance between the point of the second toe of one hind 

 foot and the point of the same tf»e in the hind foot immediately in 

 advance, is between 21 and 22 inches. Each fore foot is placed di- 

 rectly in front of the hind, and the thimibs of both extremities are 

 always towards the medial line of the walk, of the animal. Some 

 further observations are given by the authors with respect to the pro- 

 gression of the animal, on the supposition that the digit conjectured 

 to be a thumb, was rearly the first. Conceiving such to be the case, 

 they state, that the animal must have crossed its feet three inches in 

 walking, for the right fore and hind feet are placed 1|^ inch on the 

 left side of the medial line, and the left fore and hind feet 1^ inch on 

 the right side of the same line. 



The casts of the Chiroiherium, although the most remarkable, are 

 by no means the most numerous, which exist on the Storeton sand- 

 stones. Many large slabs are crowded with casts in relievo, some of 

 which are supposed to have been derived from the feet of saurian rep- 

 tiles, and others from those of tortoises. Occasionally the webs be- 

 tween the toes can be distinctly traced. " It is impossible," say the 

 authors of the report, "to look at these slabs and not conclude, that 

 the clay beds on which they rested, must have been traversed by mul- 

 titudes of animals, and in every variety of direction." 



A note by Mr. James Yates was then read, giving a brief account of 

 sketches of four diflerently characterized footsteps, traced from casts 

 procured at Storeton, each of which is distinct both from the casts of 

 the Chirotherium and the web-footed animal mentioned in the preced- 

 ing report. 



A paper was afterwards read " On two Casts in Sandstone of the 

 impressions of the Hinrl Foot of a gigantic Chirotherium, from the 

 New Red Sandstone of Cheshire," by Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart., 

 M.P., F.G.S. 



These specimens first came under the notice of Colonel Egerton, 

 about 1824, and they were placed in the author's cabinet in 1836 ; 

 but it was not until the recent discovery of the Chirotherium at Store- 

 ton, that their true nature was suspected. The exact locacity, at 

 which the specimens were discovered, is not known ; but it is proba- 

 able, that they were obtained from the neighborhood of Colonel Eger- 

 ton's residence, near Tarporley, and from one of the beds of sand- 

 stone, which alternate with the red and green marls in the upper part 

 of the new red system in that part of Cheshire. 



