184 Ornithichnites of the Connecticut River Sandstones. 
Reply of Dr. G. A. Mantell to Dr. Deane. © i 
Crescent Lodge, Clapham Common, England, Feb. 13, 1843. 
My dear Sir—I have deferred replying to your highly inter- 
esting communication, and acknowledging your kindness, until 
an opportunity occurred of submitting the specimens of ornithoid- 
ichnites to the examination of the Geological Society of London. 
At the last meeting I placed the specimens before the Society, 
and read the letter with which you had favored me, and after- 
wards gave a viva voce description of the fossils, illustrating my 
remarks by drawings showing the position and relative distances 
of the foot-prints when in situ. A brief notice of foot-prints by 
Mr. Redfield, was read on the same evening, and Mr. Lyell, who 
communicated it, gave a graphic account of the appearance of 
the impressions of feet seen by him in various localities of the 
United States, in company with Prof. Hitchcock. Mr. Owen (of 
the College of Surgeons) was not present, but the President, Mr. 
Murchison, read a short note from that gentleman, expressing his 
doubts as to foot-prints alone being sufficient evidence to prove 
whether the animals which made them were birds or reptiles. 
Mr. Murchison was also sceptical as to these markings having 
undoubted claims to be considered as true foot-prints of birds; 
but Mr. Lyell stated his conviction that they were genuine orni- 
thichnites. ‘The enormous magnitude of the largest imprints, 
served to present the greatest objection to some of the Fellows; 
but this difficulty is removed by the recent discovery in the mod- 
ern alluvial strata of New Zealand, of some bones of a struthioid 
bird with trifid feet, equal in size to the most colossal of the fos- 
sil foot-prints hitherto observed in your country. This New 
Zealand bird is stated by Mr. Owen, (who has described the 
bones hitherto received in England in the Zoological 'Transac- 
tions,) to belong to a new genus allied to the ostrich and emu. 
There is a tradition among the natives that some individuals of 
this giant of the feathered tribes existed not more than one hun- 
dred or one hundred and fifty years ago. It seems therefore to 
have been annihilated by human agency, like the dodo. ‘The 
Apteryx of New Zealand will in all probability share the same 
fate ere another century or two shall have passed away. 
At the anniversary meeting of the Geological Society, Mr. 
Murchison, the President, alluded to the subject of Ornithich- 
noidites, and after paying a just tribute of respect to you as the 
