56 ICHNOGRAPHS OF THE 



tact, and are nearly parallel. The central toes are divided into five articulations, 

 and the lateral into four each, and neither are surmounted with claws. The 

 heel is distinctly impressed; it is massive, broad, and nearly as long as the toes. 

 The stride is about three and one half feet, and the body of the animal was 

 therefore considerably elevated. These are the prominent features of this remark- 

 able footprint. 



There is no fore foot accompanying it, and the inference is, that the creature 

 was a biped. It is difficult to say which the impression resembles most, the 

 footprint of a bird or reptile. The style of locomotion is that of a bird, but 

 the structure of the foot does not conform with that of birds. Neither does 

 it conform with that of reptiles, and has no known analogies to any living animals. 

 The organizations and instincts of the creature cannot, therefore, be comprehended. 

 It was probably some gigantic reptile that very rarely visited the grounds upon 

 which the other sandstone animals congregated. The broad, clawless feet suggest 

 the hypothesis that these organs might be used for propulsion in water, as well 

 as in walking upon land, and that the animal might be some enormous amphibian. 

 Its organization was peculiar to its time. In the transition period of the sand- 

 stone deposition, there doubtless existed animals whose organizations have not 

 been transmitted to succeeding ages. All paleozoic eras have been identified 

 by animals peculiar to each ; and in this respect the sandstone epoch forms no 

 exception. It was an era replete with wonderful beings, and the combinations 

 and varieties of the living organisms were truly amazing. The character and 

 habits of a portion of the animals may be inferred with confidence ; but that 

 of another portion, among which is the monster indicated by the footprint of 

 this Plate, is veiled in profound mysteiy. 



Since the above remarks were written by Dr. Deane, the huge animal that made 

 the tracks has been shown to have been quadrupedal, by the discovery of impressions 

 of the fore feet. Dr. Hitchcock has described it in his great work on the Ichnology of 

 Massachusetts, as the Otozoum Moodii. He arranges it under the order of Batrachians, 

 but thinks it has, " combined in its nature, characteristics now distributed among several 

 different families of animals." 



