Vol. 62.] 



FROM THE PERMIAN OF MANSFIELD. 



127 



in form,' and by the comparatively-slender digits — more slender, I 



believe, than one would at first con- 

 Fig. 1.— Photograph of foot- G \ u & e f rorn a casua i glance at the 

 prints on the slab preserved photographs— of which the fifth is 

 in the Free Public Museum, sefc back a nd turns outwards and 

 University College, Notting- forwards. As regards the presence 



or absence of claws, it is impossible 

 to speak with absolute certainty, but 

 the pointed endings of the impres- 

 sions of the digits, in some cases 

 extending forwards into slender 

 scratch - like streaks, make their 

 presence very probable. But of 

 much greater interest is the very 

 smooth convexity of the surface of 

 the stone between the impressions 

 of the digits, seen as a rounded con- 

 cavity in the plaster-casts. There 

 appears to be but one conceivable 

 explanation of this feature, namely, 

 the presence of a membrane between 

 the toes. Unfortunately, the state of 

 preservation is not sufficiently good 

 to enable one to speak with confi- 

 dence ; but it must again be regarded 

 as probable that the animal was web- 

 toed. There is no indication of the 

 number of phalanges in the digits. 

 It may be added that the pes was 

 undoubtedly pentadactylate and the 

 manus probably so, although in the 

 latter case I have been unable to 

 discover a really-indubitable impres- 

 sion of the first digit. It seems 

 to be represented by a kind of stump 

 on the casts photographed. 



Regarding the general arrange- 

 ment of the prints in the track, 

 allusion may be made to their close 



[Total length=s:ightlv over 5 feet.] succession, to the j wide separation of 



the right and left sides, and to the 



fact that the fore feet were more widely separated than the 



hind feet. 



IV. Conclusions. 



It now remains to consider the import of these impressions. So 

 far as I have been able to determine, they do not entirely agree 

 with any that have been previously described, either from the Permian 

 or from the Trias. One's first idea is that they may, perhaps, be 

 associated with the cheirotheroid prints from the latter formation — 



l2 



