42 ICHNOGRAPHS OF THE 



tubercle of the tarsometatarsal bone, supporting the outer or long toe, is broad and 

 semicircular j that of the inner toe is well developed, and that of the middle is 

 compressed and modified by the contact of the first phalanges of the respective toes. 



This is a fine example of the colossal footprints. Its impress is superficial, 

 but for that reason its features are correctly reflected. These immense footprints 

 are usually so deeply impressed by the enormous weight of the creature, as to 

 appear much larger than they really are. By sinking into the unconsolidated 

 stratum, the mud is so rolled out in all directions as to give an undue proportion 

 to the footprint. In these cases the impress is rarely or never accurate, being 

 more or less modified by changes that subsequently happened. But the impress 

 of the plate is the true image of the foot. Had it been deeply sunk it would 

 be more prominent to the eye, and its apparent magnitude enhanced, yet it 

 would also be less reliable. As it is, the footprint is immense, and its author 

 has no living successor ; there is no bird known with this enormous development 

 of the foot. It is not, however, without its analogies. Certain bones of birds 

 occur in the northern island of New Zealand of a race not remotely extinct, 

 having a foot of equal magnitude and identical in its system of articulations. 

 The Dinornis, an apterous bird fifteen feet high, is no discreditable successor to 

 the sandstone monsters. 



These stupendous birds were very numerous throughout the entire period of 

 the sandstone deposition, for their impressions occur at intervals in the ascending 

 series of the stratified portion of the rock, from the bottom to the top. Their 

 powerful organization preserved them from annihilation by their enemies; they 

 had no equals, and they were the rulers of their time. 



The footprint above described by Dr. Deane is that of the Brontozoum gigan- 

 teum of Hitchcock. In the cabinet at Amherst is a slab from Northampton having a 

 row of seven consecutive tracks; and there are many others there of this species. 



One of the largest footprints of this huge animal may be seen in the collection of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History. 



Length of the step three to five feet, and width of trackway eighteen inches. 



PLATE XVI. 



This is a photograph, taken directly from the original specimen now in possession 

 of Mr. Roswell Field. It is reduced to one half linear size, and is given because it 



