1862.] TYLOE WEALDEN FOOTPEINTS. 247 



" Mackenzie " of Leichhardt. I have instituted a search (at my 

 own expense) at the head of the Maranoa River, and shall be able, 

 I hope, to report further discoveries hereafter. These fossils were 

 exhibited in Sydney, and are included in the Catalogue of the New 

 South Wales products for exhibition at London in 1862*. 



4. On the Footpren-t of an Igtjanodok, lately found at Hastings. 

 By Alfred Tyloe, Esq., E.G.S., F.L.S. 



The occurrence of ichnites or footprints in the Wealden strata has 

 on previous occasions been brought before the notice of the Geolo- 

 gical Society by both Tagartf and Beetles J; and these remains 

 have also been alluded to by Mantell in his ' Geology of the Isle of 

 Wight ' (1st edit., 1847, pp. 247, 328). 



A notice of the recent discovery of similar impressions may be 

 interesting, and may assist in throwing some light upon their nature 

 and character, as well as lead us to some general observations on 

 the strata in which they are found. 



By the earlier observers these footprints were referred to gigantic 

 birds, but subsequently the probability of their being reptilian has 

 been advanced §. This idea is supported by the abundant occurrence 

 of numerous bones of the Iguanodon and other Dinosaurians in the 

 Wealden deposits. By Dr. Mantell's exertions many of these re- 

 mains were brought before the scientific world; and more lately 

 Professor Owen, in a monograph published by the Palaeontogra- 

 phical Society I!, has figured and described, among other fine speci- 

 mens, the bones of the foot of a young Iguanodon, obtained by Mr. 

 Beckles in the Isle of Wight. This foot has three toes, measures 

 21 inches in length and 9| in width, and would form a print or 

 " spoor " similar in outline to that shown by the imprint now 

 exhibited, and by the several other imprints and natural casts of 

 imprints found in the Wealden rocks. 



The footprints recently observed near Hastings were upon de- 

 tached blocks of sand-rock which had fallen in large masses from 

 the upper part of the cliif a little west of Ecclesbourne Glen. About 

 150 yards of this sandstone in pieces was there exposed on the 

 beach, exhibiting numerous footprints on the ripple-marked sur- 

 faces, apparently in a continuous direction. 



* These specimens have not reached London, July 20, 1862. — Editor. 



t Quart. Journ. G-eol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 267. 



X Ibid. vol. vii. p. 1 17 ; vol. viii. p. 396 ; and vol. x. p. 456. 



§ In Tagart's Letter, an abstract of which was printed in tlie Geol. Journ. 

 vol. ii. p. 267. In this letter (dated March 10, 1846) he states that " Dr. Harwood 

 suspects them to be the foot-marks of the Iguanodon." See also Rupert Jones's 

 edition of Mantell's 'Wonders of Geology,' 1857, vol. i. p. 383, and vol. ii. 

 (preface) 1858 ; and ' Literary Gazette,' N. S. vol. viii. No. 193, March 22, 1862. 



II ' Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the Wealden Formation,' Part iv. 

 1857. 



