Principal Dawson — On Sauropus unguifer. 251 



The quarry in whicli they were found is on the land of Mr. Asa 

 Fillimore, about eight miles and a half east of where the thick Coal- 

 seams crop out on the property of the General Mining Association, 

 at Spring Hill, and three-quarters of a mile west of the railroad 

 bridge over Eiver Philip. 



The beds, associated with that in which the tracks were found, are 

 of a reddish-brown or chocolate coloured sandstone, from one to five 

 feet thick, overlaid by purple, blue, and red shales. The tracks 

 were at a depth of about twelve feet from the surface, in a thin 

 stratum of dark shale, the dip being S. 10°, W., 42°. 



The details of the geological structure of the district have not yet 

 been worked out, and whether the beds containing the footprints 

 are above or below the productive Coal-measures, is at present un- 

 certain. 



The accompanying photograph^ is that alluded to by Dr. Dawson 

 of the slab in Ottawa. 



V. — Note on Footpeints fkom the Cabboniferotts of Nova 

 sootia, in the collection of the geological suevey of 

 Canada. 



By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., 

 Principal of McGill's College, Montreal. 



THE principal specimens are several large slabs of brownish sand- 

 stone, bearing series of footprints in relief. Of the largest and 

 most distinct series 40 to 50 footprints have been preserved, and are 

 arranged in two rows, about b\ inches apart. I may confine my 

 attention in the first place to this series, as the most important of 

 the whole. 



They were probably produced by a large Labjrrinthodont Batra- 

 chian walking on a muddy shore, near the edge of the water, and are 

 not very dissimilar from those described by Sir C. Lyell as found by 

 Dr. King in the Carboniferous of Pennsylvania. They also closely 

 resemble, in size and form, the footprints found by Mr. E. Brown, 

 F.G.S., in the coal-field of Sydney, Cape Breton, and described by 

 me in the second edition of "Acadian Geology," p. 358, under the 

 name of Sauropus Sydnensis, and still more closely those found by 

 Mr. Jones, F.L.S., at Parrsboro', N.S., and noticed in the same work. 

 With these they may, in the mean time, be included in the provisional 

 genus Sauropus. 



The dimensions of the footprints are as follows : — 



Hind foot, breadth 



„ „ length 

 Fore foot, breadth. 



„ „ length 

 Length of stride 

 Average distance between the rows of footprints made by 



right and left feet ... ... 5'48 „ 



These measurements correspond very nearly with those of my 

 Sauropus Sydnensis above referred to. 



^ Reproduced as a woodcut on p. 252, one-third less than the original photograph. 



2-71 



inches. 



4-24 



)) 



2-63 



)) 



2-77 



1) 



11-53 



)i 



