OF THE VALLEY OF THE CONNECTICUT. 
217 
smaller and not quite so perfect. The impress is deep and clear, the outer toe is long 
and tapering, and all the toes exhibit the articulating ranks. The impress of the middle 
and inner toes is slightly distorted, yet the appearance of the fossil is expressive. The 
tarsus is slightly impressed. From its analogy to Fig. 2, it might be supposed to be the 
young of that species ; which cannot be the case, for the stride is invariably very long. In 
this instance it is twenty-two inches. The line of four impressions, running upward 
through the centre of Plate I., was impressed by this species. 
Figs. 3 and 4. These drawings represent a magnificent species of footprint, which 
I have selected to illustrate the probability, that certain analogous impressions, differing 
in magnitude, are due to an identical species, being impressed by individuals in various 
stages of development. The distinctive marks of organization are very striking. The 
foot is long, narrow, and distinctly impressed. A peculiar mark of distinction in this 
species is the shortness of the outer toe, projecting backward and forward little more 
than the inner toe. In Figs. 1 and 2, the outer toe is relatively very long ; in this species, 
it is relatively very short. Another remarkable distinction is the circumstance, that the 
lateral toes embrace and modify the form of the first joint of the central toe. The lat¬ 
eral toes diverge less than in other species. The tarsus is invariably impressed, and its 
lobes and those of the respective joints are exceedingly massive. The nails are perfectly 
defined. Those terminating the lateral toes have an unusual divergence. The step 
is very long, in the figures being about two feet. The bird was doubtless of great 
relative magnitude, for the impress, like that of Fig. 2, is always perfect, a circumstance 
resulting from condensation by great pressure. The concavities of the joints are smooth, 
polished, and lustrous. These large and powerful birds appear to have outlived other 
species, for while they became extinct, or at least disappear, these are found under all 
circumstances. They abound at Turner’s Falls, where the strata rest upon a base of 
igneous rock, and also at the Race, several miles distant, and at intermediate places. 
Figs. 3 and 4 are represented upon Plate II. in consecutive order. If the reader 
will turn to Fig. 4, Plate III., he will see that it bears unimpeachable analogy to the 
figures under consideration, and a regular gradation in point of size connects them, ex¬ 
tending to impressions of more than one foot in length, (I have seen them of eighteen 
inches,) with a stride of four feet. 
Plate V. 
The footsteps upon this plate are, I think, identical with those of Fig. 4, Plate III.; 
Figs. 3 and 4, Plate IV., being impressed by larger individuals, upon strata of different 
degrees of resistance. Fig. 1 is deep, while Fig. 2 is a very superficial impression. In 
