22 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the very poor fauna indicated by the fossil remains of the 

 Elgin Trias, whilst their evidently carnivorous habit 

 would require abundant food. Since he wrote that his 

 evident expectation has been fulfilled, and the remains of 

 a more abundant, though still restricted fauna have been 

 found ; but that we at present know of anything beyond a 

 very small proportion of the Triassic fauna is very un- 

 likely. The more we examine the footprints in our local 

 Sandstones, the more certain we are that they represent a 

 far more varied fauna than was supposed. At one time 

 local geologists were content to name all the larger ones 

 'Cheirotherium and the smaller Rhynchosaurus. The late 

 Mr. Morton considered* that only six species were repre- 

 sented. Since then (1897) so many other forms have been 

 noted that even after making due allowance for imperfect 

 impressions, and differences between fore and hind feet, 

 there still remains evidence of a fauna quite varied enough 

 to furnish the food supply required by Professor Huxley's 

 reptilian carnivora. Of the flora which must form the 

 basis of any food supply we know very little beyond the 

 natural casts of a few equisetiforrn plants. We have 

 traces of a more plentiful flora in the Upper Keuper, and it 

 is quite possible that Upper Keuper conditions may have 

 prevailed at no great distance outside our area at the time 

 our Lower Keuper Sandstone was being formed. The 

 consideration of this very interesting point would, how- 

 ever, lead us beyond the limits of this address. 



We have numerous traces of the presence of inverte- 

 brata. Some we may safely attribute to worms or 

 Gasteropods, others, consisting of sinuous double rows of 

 minute pittings, closely resemble those made by minute 

 crabs ; but the tracks of invertebrates are even more un- 

 certain than those of vertebrates. 



* Geology of the Country around Liverpool. Appendix page 299. 



