INTRODUCTION 



The delineations given in the following pages were made, or directed, by the 

 late Dr. James Deane, of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Living in the immediate 

 vicinity of the quarries whence so many curious traces of animals and of physical 

 phenomena in early geological times have been derived, he had from the first 

 observed them and become deeply interested in them. Scarcely a specimen of 

 any interest was obtained that did not pass under his inspection ; and as he 

 beheld, in succession, the gigantic vestige since called Brontozoum giganteum, then 

 the smaller ones, gradually descending to those of minute size, the ripple 

 marks, rain drops, trails of insects and worms, presenting themselves, he aspired 

 to divine and determine, if possible, their true nature and relations. To illus- 

 trate his own conclusions, and at the same time to afford others enjoying better 

 subsidiary advantages than himself an opportunity to pursue the same line of 

 investigation, and judge of the correctness of his conclusions or substitute their 

 own, he undertook to give delineations, as accurate as they could possibly be 

 made, of the best defined and most characteristic specimens. Some of them were 

 executed on stone, with the most untiring patience, by himself; others were 

 photographed from his selections, and under his direction. He was encouraged 

 in this undertaking by the Smithsonian Institution, which engaged to defray the 

 expense of the drawings and to publish the work in its " Contributions." But 

 in the midst of his enterprise he died, leaving the work, both plates and text, 

 too incomplete to be issued under those auspices. It seemed sad, however, that 

 such exquisite specimens of art, such contributions to science, should be utterly 



