THREE-TOED FOOTPRINTS FROM TRIASSIC CONGLOMERATE, 511 
39. On some TurREE-rorp Foorprints from the TRrasstc Coneio- 
MERATE of Sour Wares. By W.J.Soutas, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., 
Lecturer on Geology at University College, Bristol. (Read 
April 9, 1879.) 
In the summer of 1878 an artist friend, Mr. T. H. Thomas, was 
passing through Newton Nottage, a village near Porth-Cawl, Gla- 
morganshire, when his attention was arrested by some three-toed 
footprints, deeply impressed in the surface of a slab of rock and 
rendered particularly visible by the slanting rays of the setting sun. 
Understanding the full value of his discovery, he at once communi- 
cated it to Mr. R. W. Jones of Newport, Monmouthshire, who, with 
his brother, Mr. T. Jones, Jun., F.G.8., takes a deep interest in 
every thing connected with the progress of geology. Mr. T. Jones 
at once commissioned Mr. J. Storrie, the valued Curator of the 
Cardiff Museum, to obtain casts of the footprints in plaster of Paris ; 
and Mr. R. W. Jones suggested that casts should also be taken of 
the footprints of some living birds for comparison. 
Accordingly Mr. Storrie set about his work, which he most suc- 
cessfully accomplished ; and Mr. Thomas and myself obtained casts, 
in mud and in modelling-clay, of the footprints of an Kmu living in 
the Gardens of the Clifton Zoological Society, and of a Rhea and a 
Cassowary which are preserved ‘in a stuffed state in the Bristol 
Museum. Finally all the accumulated facts and material were 
placed in my hands for description. 
The Slab of Stone.—This is now lying in the N.E. corner of the 
green in front of the church at Newton Nottage*. At one time it 
lay in front of the steps of the village inv, and has suffered more or 
less wear in places in consequence, but not enough to obliterate the 
characters of the best-marked impressions. It measures 5 feet 6 in. 
by 6 feet 1 in., and consists of a breccia or conglomerate of small 
limestone fragments similar to that exposed in a quarry near to 
Schorlon, half a mile west of Newton Nottage, and which has been 
mapped as Trias by the Geological Survey. Mr. R. W. Jones’s sec- 
tion is as follows :— 
Section in Quarry at Schorlon, Newton Nottage. 
feet. 
Red conglomerate containing pebbles of Carboniferous Limestone ... 3 
Flagey caleareous beds, with frequent subangular pebbles of Lime- 
BLOM OMMMUOE TTT ED Cor ear eT NCet «ico scuicinis hvsauis ie oaitis tiniest silote ancl ipale daa lereutelt 6 
The slab bearing footprints is lithologically similar to the lower beds. 
The beds of this quarry lie at the base of a range of Carboniferous 
Limestone hills trending from 8.W. by S. north-eastwards. 
The Footprints.—These are five in number, lying one in front of 
the other on each side of a mesial line. The hindermost, which we 
shall call No. 1, was impressed by a left foot; and so were Nos. 3 and 
* Tt has since been placed in the Cardiff Museum. 
Q.J.G.8. No. 189. Qn 
