Prof. Hitchcock on Ichnolithology, or Fossil FooimarJcs. 319 



some of them from the list. But in general, when new specimens 

 are brought under my eye, I find little more difficulty in distin- 

 guishing the different species, than in distinguishing the species 

 of plants or animals ; and hence I feel a good degree of confidence 

 that the characters of these footmarks are constant and distinct. 

 And if an attempt should be made to mark out the European 

 footmarks into species, I predict that their number will be found 

 greater than geologists now imagine. 



My next remark relates to the large number of the names of 

 distinguished scientific men, which I have ventured to attach to 

 the footmarks of New England, in most cases without consulting 

 them, as a testimony of respect. My apology is, that as advanc- 

 ing years admonisli one how few more opportunities he will have 

 to bear witness to the valuable services of those scientific breth- 

 ren with whom he has been long allowed to labor, and as long 

 acquaintance enables him better to appreciate how great must be 

 his labors and sacrifices, especially in this coimtry, who devotes 

 his life "to science, — as experience teaches all this, I say, he feels 

 an increasing desire to give the world some token, however fee- 

 ble, that he highly honors those who are doing so much for the 

 welfare of the human family. 



It may be proper for me in this connection to state a few facts 

 in relation to the collections that have hitherto been made of the 

 fossil footmarks of New England. I early transmitted a few 

 specimens and a few casts to the London Geological Society, 

 and more recently a much larger collection of casts and speci- 

 mens to the Hunterian Museum in London ; another to the Rev. 

 W, B. Clarke of England ; another to the Mineralogical Institute 

 at Heidelberg ; another to Dr. Tamnau of Berlin ; and another 

 to the Garden of Plants in Paris, although I have never learnt 

 whether the latter has been received ; and I have mentioned that 

 some very fine slabs had been recently translated to the British 

 Museum by Dr. Deane. In this country the best collection, ex- 

 cept my own, is in the Massachusetts collection of rocks in 

 Boston. A very good collection of casts and specimens is pos- 

 sessed by the Military Academy at West Point, and by Francis 

 Markoe, Jr. Esq. at Washington. The collection of Prof. Silliman 

 is also considerably full, as is that of Prof. Adams of Middlebury 

 College. But I may be allowed to say, that my own collection 

 in Amherst College is the only one that approaches to complete- 



