Miscellanies . 165 



length, exclusive of a large claw measuring two Inches. The most 

 frequent distance of these larger footsteps from one another, is four 

 feet ; sometimes they are six feet asunder, p. 436. 



Professor Powell afterwards gave a short account of the progress 

 of his researches on light. — Abridged from the Oxford Herald. 



2. Bird Tracks at Middletown, Conn, in the new red sandstone. 

 —Extract of a letter to the editor dated Aug. 18, 1836. — I have 

 discovered the tracks of birds similar to those described by Prof. 

 Hitchcock : I have some well marked slabs, with tracks. I find 

 them in a sandstone lying beneath the new red fissile sandstone with 

 the vegetable impressions mentioned in a former letter. This sand- 

 stone with bird tracks is perfectly distinct in character, and diflfers al- 

 so from the old red sandstone on which it may rest. I have also 

 found some small fossil ribs in the sandstone, with fossil vegetables on 

 a weather-worn surface — and moreover the leafy extremity of some 

 large fronds in the same sandstone, very fine. 



3. Crinoidea, or Lily Shaped Animals. — We are indebted to Mr. 

 John Bonny, now of Schenectady, late of Schoharie, N. York, for 

 the loan of a wood cut of a fine crinoideal specimen, and we annex 

 an extract from the notice of it from a Schenectady newspaper trans- 

 mitted by Mr. D. Tomlinson. 



Of the organic beings, for a knowlege of whose existence we are 

 indebted to the researches of naturalists, some of the most interesting 

 are those demominated by Mr. Parkinson, (whose work is quoted 

 by Gen. Dix,) Encrinites and Pentacrinites, (vulgarly stone lilies, 

 from their resemblance to liHes.) Cuvier arranges them under one 

 genus, which he calls " Encriniis.^' 



In the celebrated work of J. S. Miller, A. L. S., we have the 

 best description of Crinoidea, any where to be found. He gives a 

 full and detailed account of all that was known on the subject up to 

 the year 1821, and also the result of his own investigations, which 

 are of the most important nature. His work is illustrated with 50 

 engravings, containing all the varieties of Crinoidea then discovered. 

 It is singular that among all these, there are none bearing the dis- 

 tinctive character of the one represented in our engraving. It is 

 however referable to Divisio inarticulata, — genus Antinocrinites, — 

 species polydactylus. In this division, the plates form the superior 

 cup-like body of the animal, adhering by sutures, lined by muscular 



