278 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 14, 1859. 



4. On the Occurrence of Footsteps of Cheirotherittm in the Upper 



Keeper in Warwickshire. 



By the Bev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S. 



The occurrence of certain footprints of supposed Labyrinthodont 

 animals in the Upper Keuper in the neighbourhood of Warwick has 

 been long known ; and they generally consist of a series of small 

 casts and impressions, chiefly the former, over a considerable extent 

 of surface ; but no larger footsteps have been before noticed in the 

 district. These were obtained from Skrewley and Bowington, where 

 the Keuper contains also remains of Fish and Plants, though not 

 exactly in the same bed affording the footmarks. 



The specimen to which I now wish to draw the Society's atten- 

 tion was met with in a ploughed field, lying loose on the surface, 

 having been evidently turned up by the plough, of which it bears 

 the marks, in an extension of the same sandstone at Witley Green 

 near Preston Bagot, about a mile from Henley in Arden, where it 

 occupies high and undulating ground, the surface of which has been 

 much denuded. The district is traversed by a N. and S. line of fault. 

 (See Geol. Survey Map, sheet 54 N.E.) The sandstone crops out in a 

 lane adjacent, and might easily be quarried ; but I searched in vain for 

 any other large slabs likely to contain any footprints, although no 

 doubt they might be discovered along the same horizon if the stratum 

 containing them were worked. The specimen (of which I have sent 

 a reduced photograph) consists of two casts in relief on the under 

 surface of a slab of sandstone, 1 foot long aud 9 inches broad, of the 

 ' large hind and the smaller fore foot. The breadth of the hind foot, 

 from the thumb to the fourth toe, is 4£ inches ; the extreme length, 

 from the second toe (the longest) to the heel, is 4 inches. The cast 

 of the front foot is very indistinct and lies in advance, in close juxta- 

 position to the hind foot. It measures about 2 inches across ; and 

 the length, as far as an approximation can be made, is about 1| 

 inch. As the sandstone of Cheshire, so well known for its fine and 

 numerous impressions of Cflieiroiherium, belongs to the upper part of 

 the New Bed series, it may be concluded that it is of the same age as 

 the Upper Keuper of Warwickshire ; which conclusion is strengthened 

 by the presence of the Cheiroilierium, although this is the first indica- 

 tion of any large footprints of animals which have been called by 

 this name in the latter county. 



The specimen above referred to is now deposited in the Warwick 

 Museum, which contains the finest collection of fossils from the New 

 Bed Sandstone (Upper and Lower Keuper) in the kingdom. 



