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Scientific Intelligence. 



grasping function. The particular interest which attaches to 

 this fact is that it is the first evidence we have of Orthopoda or 

 Predentate dinosaurs in the Trias, for their skeletal remains are 

 entirely unknown either in this country or in Europe from the 

 rocks of that period. 



Anomoepus, the most characteristic genus among the her- 

 bivorous forms, had a pentadactyl manus with rounded claws and 

 a tetradactyl pes with somewhat longer but still blunted claws. 

 The hallux was but half rotated and therefore ill fitted for grasp- 

 ing, and there was a long metatarsus, or heel, on which the 

 creature rested. The tail sometimes dragged just before the 

 owner came to rest, but at other times was held clear of the 

 ground as a counterpoise to the anterior part of the body as in 

 other genera. Anomoepus represents a group of small, lightly 

 built creatures ranging in size from A. minimus, about three feet 

 in length, to A. crassus, a New Jersey form, six feet long. They 

 are among the most numerous and interesting of all of the ichnite 

 genera with the exception of Anchisauripus. 



The genus Fulicopus, which the writer has separated from the 

 preceding group, shows a greater amount of weight borne on the 

 hind limbs while sitting, the manus resting but lightly as with 

 the kangaroo. The feet resemble those of Anchisauripus more 

 than those of Anomoepus, there being less divarication or diverg- 

 ing of the digits, though the position of the hallux is as in the 

 latter genus. A curious heart-shaped impression frequently 

 occurs just behind and between the impressions of the heels, and 

 this was attributed by Hitchcock to the end of a truncated tail, 

 but the writer believes it to have been made by a callosity beneath 

 the apposed extremities of the ischial bones. Hypsilophodon, of 

 the Wealden of Europe, most nearly suggests the probable skele- 

 tal characters of the Anomoepodoid forms, and as Professor 

 Osborn has shown, presents the most primitive characters of any 

 known Orthopod. It is difficult to conjecture the probable habits 

 of Anomoepus, other than that the animals were herbivorous. 

 They probably came to the mud flats mainly for breeding pur- 

 poses, as their tracks very frequently exhibit a distinct sexual 

 dimorphism between the footprints of the two individuals. 



A very striking though rare form, Otozoum, has been placed 

 by the present writer among the Orthopoda, although the structure 

 of its foot is unlike that of any known dinosaur. Otozoum is 

 probably bipedal, though there is a possibility that the great pes 

 may have obliterated the track of the much smaller manus. The 

 foot is plantigrade, tetradactyl, with all of the digits pointing 

 forward and with rounded pellet-like claws and a broadly expand- 

 ing web or fleshy pad extending some distance beyond the ends 

 of the digits. Its probable function was that of supporting the 

 creature on soft mud rather than a natatorial one. The phalan- 

 geal formula of the pes is typically dinosaurian, while that of the 

 manus, 2. 3. 3, 3. 3, is amphibian or cotylosaurian and would be 

 absolutely unique in a dinosaur. The manus is rarely seen and is 



