BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 9 



were the characters, fresh as upon the morning when they were impressed ; 

 reminding the spectator of the brevity of human antiquity, and of the frail tenure 

 of human works. On that morning, how long ago no one can tell or will ever 

 know, gentle showers watered the earth, an ocean was unruffled, and upon its 

 borders primaeval beings enjoyed their existence, and inscribed their eventful • 

 history." In a more elaborate paper (vol. 48, p. 158) he describes new discov- 

 eries, a stupendous impression of a foot half a yard long, and capable of holding 

 half a gallon of water ! He adds : " What was the real magnitude of this powerful 

 bird? He maintained his supremacy throughout the entire period of the new 

 red sandstone deposition, while other varieties, though gigantic and powerful, 

 became extinct. He was endowed with a physical frame fitted to endure the 

 turbulence of the era in which he reigned supreme monarch of his race, and was 

 finally exterminated only by the all-pervading catastrophes that swept from the 

 earth other vast creatures which were his contemporaries, but not his conquerors." 



In 1847 he describes the track of a quadruped, being the fourth that had 

 been discovered. He infers that these early inhabitants of this planet frequented 

 regions which were periodically, or at least occasionally, submerged. He discusses 

 the causes, and thinks these inundations arose from sudden floods. 



Finally, in 1848 (January), he gives a very brief account of another quad- 

 ruped track. 



Meanwhile, he had sent some specimens and a letter, dated Sept. 20, 1842, 

 to Dr. Mantell in England. This gentleman laid the communication and the tracks 

 before the Geological Society of London. The previous scepticism of Prof. Owen 

 and of other eminent geologists and palaeontologists was thoroughly overcome 

 by this communication, conjoined, as it was, with the discovery of the Dinornis 

 of New Zealand. Dr. Mantell remarks, "Your brief and lucid description," with 

 the specimens, has placed this subject before the geologists of England in a "most 

 clear and satisfactory light;" and "the thanks of the Society were warmly and 

 unanimously expressed for so valuable a communication." 



In 1849 a still more elaborate memoir, with many plates, was sent to the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was published in the Memoirs of 

 the Academy, Vol. IV. New Series. 



Two similar papers were published, in 1850 and 1856, by the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences at Philadelphia; and in one of these he first describes the 

 minute tracks ascribed to insects (Vol. II. 7, and Vol. III. 173). 



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