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FROM THE TRIASSIC CONGLOMERATE OF SOUTH WALES. 513 
region of the digit very well defined, especially at its proximal end ; 
then follow the second and third, not quite so marked, but quite 
well enough to be clearly distinguishable; and finally there is a 
terminal acutely angular pit, which represents the nail and its as- 
sociated ossicle. From the point of the nail to the back of the heel 
measures 10 inches. 
The outer toe-print is likewise a straight gutter-like depression. 
It originates from a well-marked heel, from which it is separated by 
a slight contraction only. It is differentiated into not more than two 
regions—a single long proximal one, deepest distally, and a sharp 
ungual pit. 
The inner toe is 53 inches long, and is divided into three imper- 
fectly defined phalangeal swellings, of which the middle one is 
deepest ; the terminal one is possibly ungual. It is not straight 
like the others, but curiously splayed outwards, being swollen first 
on its outer side towards its base, and afterwards on its inner side 
towards the middle toe, thus giving it a sigmoidal form. The angle 
contained between the inner and outer toes is 50°, between the inner 
and middle 26°, and between the middle and outer 24°. The spread 
from the point of the outer to that of the inner toe is 63 inches in 
length ; the projection of the middle toe beyond a line joining the 
points of the inner and outer toes is 33 inches. 
The measurements of the various parts of the five footprints are 
embodied in a table given later on, where measurements of the 
footprints of various Ratitous birds are also given for comparison. 
The footprints of the Emu, taken in modelling-clay and after- 
wards reproduced in plaster of Paris, are remarkably similar in 
general character to those just described. There is a very deeply 
impressed almost hemispherical cavity for the heel-point; an elon- 
gated rounded groove represents the outer toe, and a small pointed 
impression its nail. The middle toe is represented by three broad. 
rounded phalangeal depressions, and a pointed ungual pit. The 
proximal phalange is most deeply impressed ; and it is worth noticing 
that while the prints of the middle and inner toes are quite sepa- 
rated from that of the heel, the outer toe-print, on the contrary, is 
connected with it by a shallow depression, faintly reminding us of 
the deep groove which similarly connects the outer toe with the heel 
in the fossil foot-marks. The inner toe-print consists of a single 
elongated pit with a terminal depression. On comparing the regions 
of the sole of the Emu’s foot with its skeletal structure, one is 
struck with their wide divergence in details, which clearly shows the 
futility of too closely arguing in all cases from the skeletal structure 
of a foot to the impression it might make on the surface of a sedi- 
mentary deposit. Thus, while the feet of most of the Ratite possess 
a prominent heel, the end of the tarso-metatarsal bone, on the 
other hand, does not appear to reach the level of the ground; so 
too, while the articulations of the phalanges are the most swollen 
parts of the digital skeleton, on the sole of the foot they are the 
least so, owing to the excessive development of tissue over the 
middle of the phalangeal bones; and, finally, while the inner toe 
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