﻿176 DEANE ON THE SANDSTONE FOSSILS OF CONNECTICUT RIVER. 



I think in the present state of science it is impossible to explain the origin of this elegant 

 fossil. If the accuminated bodies that constitute the various lines of impressions be 

 not due to the deciduous fronds of plants, they must be taken for the dermoid pro- 

 tuberances of some animal. There is not the slightest evidence of a compressed stem 

 of a coniferous or other plant, which should certainly be the case in so perfect a 

 specimen ; and moreover, upon the superior or superincumbent stratum, the imprint 

 is reversed ; it is a cast, and this, it appears to me, is conclusive evidence against a 

 vegetable origin. I have drawn this beautiful fossil with excessive care, for it is the 

 most difficult puzzle I have ever encountered, and I must leave it to others more com- 

 petent than myself to determine its origin. The reader who will take the trouble to 

 analyze the various line of impressions, will find a corresponding number in each repe- 

 tition. Thus in the unbroken row running obliquely upward from left to right, there 

 are invariably fourteen of the protuberant points, and in each other line, when re- 

 peated, is consistent, both as to number and arrangement of the geometrical lines of 

 elevations. 



The remaining figures upon this plate are probably foot-prints of a class of creatures 

 not higher in the scale of organization than the articulated division of animals, and a 

 few observations perhaps may assist in deciding upon their origin. I rely more upon 

 the fidelity of the drawing than upon any descriptions to convey exact ideas. 



Fig. ?, pi. 19, is the simplest form of these linear imprints. It is a single set of 

 straight, slender, parallel feet, planted in regular succession. 



Fig. f. The set is also single, feet slightly divergent, and terminate in an enlarge- 

 ment or depression, caused apparently by the momentum by which the creature moved. 



Fig. c. The two rows upon the left are identical with those of fig. /, but there is 

 also an additional row of impressions upon the right, the terminations of which are 

 not excavated. 



In fig. b the impressions are identical with fig. c, except that the order is reversed. 



In fig. li two sets of feet are exquisitely preserved. The irregular or odd number 

 of feet may perhaps be explained upon the hypotheis that the creature was moving 

 upon the bottom of the water, and by floating used a part only of its organs of 

 locomotion. This conjecture is sustained by the fact that the rows of impressions 

 sometimes appear and disappear abruptly upon the surface, and are both preceded and 

 succeeded by delicate prolonged lines, caused by dragging of the feet. 



Fig. g displays two rows of linear feet, and are very fine indeed. The entire length 

 of the original impressions is fifteen inches. 



Fig. Jc shows a row of parallel linear feet, and corresponding rows of lateral bulbous 

 impressions. 



Fig. d also shows the central or parallel rows, and two corresponding lateral rows 

 of curved feet. 



