Animal Remains. 



235 



recent tree, struck it with his axe ; and being vexed at the injury his 

 instrument received, he in revenge broke it almost to pieces. The 

 unbroken fragment in Dr. Smith's possession, however, was several 

 inches long. 



The circumstances above related, render it probable thattbis trunk, 

 when first discovered, stood in the position, in which it grew ; as has 

 been found to be the case in numerous instances in the sandstones of 

 Europe. 



Animal Remains. 



About thirteen years ago, an interesting discovery of the bones of 

 an animal was made in digging a well near Ketch's Mills, in the east 

 parish of East Windsor, Ct. The rock is a red conglomerate, be- 

 longing to the higher part of the new red sandstone, and exceedingly 

 resembles in color and hardness the conglomerate of the lowest beds. 

 The workmen penetrated five feet of soil before reaching the rock, 

 and then blasted it out to the depth of eighteen feet, before reaching 

 the bones. And although little care was taken to obtain these in a 

 proper state for examination, and they were mostly scattered among 

 visitors to the spot, yet the following facts may be depended on. 



The most remarkable fact is, that these bones were not at all min- 

 eralized ; but retained the color and other characters of bones that 

 have long been buried. On exposure to the air, they were much 

 disposed to crumble down. Yet this was not universally the case, 

 as two or three small fragments, still in my possession, testify. These 

 bones belonged to a vertebral animal, about five feet long, which lay 

 horizontally in the rock ; and as the caudal vertebrae were quite nu- 

 merous, projecting in a curve eighteen inches beyond the body of the 

 skeleton, I suspect these bones belonged to a saurian animal ; espec- 

 ially since such animals have been found in the new red sandstone 

 in Europe. 



Having understood that an individual in East Windsor, (for his 

 own sake I will not mention his name,) had preserved several frag- 

 ments of these bones, and finding that geologists abroad were begin- 

 ning to doubt whether any such discovery had been made, I traveled 

 seventy miles, accompanied by an artist, in the hope of being allowed 

 to take sketches of the specimens. But I was not permitted even to 

 look at them. I tried to console myself under so unexpected a dis- 

 appointment, first, by reflecting that I had not received such treat- 

 ment any where else ; and secondly, by repeating the sentiment — 

 parvuni parva decent. 



