900 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



ever, is new is the occurrence at this locality of impressions at! 

 the end of the ladderlike trails, giving rise to the so called. 

 " footprints." 



The trails called Climactichnites, first made known by Sir 

 William E. Logan from Beauharnais, Canada, have since been 

 found in Wisconsin and at Port Henry, in this State. 



In the 42d annual report of the State Museum for the year. 

 1888, an account with illustrations is given of the trails from, 

 certain of these localities, including the original description of 

 Climactic 'hni'tes wilsoni. For other references to ( 

 the literature, the reader should consult Professor Hall's 1 * 

 report. 



Opinion as to the origin of climactichnite trails has been ex- 

 tremely varied. From their occurrence in strata in which large 

 trilobites are the only known animal remains with which the 

 trails can be associated, there has been a prevailing belief, ex- 

 pressed by Sir William Dawson, Dana, and others, that the. 

 tracks are probably those of a crustacean if not a trilobite. 

 Nicholson 2 has expressed the view that Climactichnites was, 

 probably formed by the same animal which produced Protich- 

 nites, and notes that Sir William Dawson observed that the 

 living Limulus or horseshoe crab, when it uses its swimming 

 feet, gives rise to a ladder like trail. Sir William Dawson, 3 in, 

 his comparison with the trails made by Limulus in different 

 modes of progression, notes that in the case referred to. where 

 the platelike swimming organs pile up transverse ridges of sand, 

 the lateral and medial lines which are produced at the same 

 time are furrows and not ridges as in Climactichnites. T. Rupert, 

 Jones 4 was inclined to compare the trails with the galleries of 

 burrowing Crustacea. Professor Chapman 5 believed that botlv 

 Protichnites and Climactichnites are really of vegetable origin. 

 Still others, including Logan, have regarded the trails as having 

 been made by a gastropod or an annelid. 



1 Hall, James. N. Y. State Mus. Report of the Director. 1888. p. 25-34, plate,, 

 opposite p. 34. 



2 Nicholson, A. Manual of Paleontology, ed. 2. 1879. 1:361, 



3 Dawson, Sir J. W. On the Footprints of Limulus, etc, Can. Nat. 7:271-77.- 



4 Cited by Sir J. W. Dawson, p. 277. 

 e Cited by Nicholson, p. 361. 



