NEW RED SANDSTONE. 
201 
limestone of the Taconic system, near Stony point, below Caldwell. The other parts of 
the rock are a coarse micaceous sandstone ; and a thin-bedded red and black shale, passing 
into a soft marl, more or less variegated and spotted with green. 
The New Red sandstone is a highly interesting formation. It is rendered so by certain 
marks or impressions upon the strata, so closely resembling footmarks, that few now doubt 
the truth of this hypothesis of their origin. The evidence, however, of the truth of this 
hypothesis, does not rest upon the shape of the impressions alone: these are so exact and 
uniform, that if there were no other ground for this belief, it would be difficult to maintain 
that they had any other origin than that now ascribed to them. In addition to this evi¬ 
dence, is that which is drawn from their position with respect to each other; for example, 
where a series of footmarks are in a line, the toes turn alternately to the right and left, 
precisely like the tracks made by birds when walking upon mud or sand. There is a 
uniformity, too, in regard to the number of toes; being usually three before, and some¬ 
times the impression of the hind claw. There are also the swellings between the joints 
of the toes; so that in all those points in which they may be compared with the footprints 
of animals, it is found that the agreement is so exact, that we are forced to admit that the 
marks in question were made by shore birds travelling upon the beach, while the rock 
was being deposited. Numerous species of birds existed at this period, inasmuch as the 
tracks are of various sizes, beginning with the tracks of our small sandpiper, and ending 
with those twice as large as the tracks of the ostrich. 
Footmarks have been found by Mr. Redfield in New-Jersey, not many miles from the 
New-York State line. President Hitchcock and Dr. Dean of Greenfield (Mass.), have 
been the most successful cultivators of this branch of palajontology. 
Other marks are often found upon the smooth red shale, of a rounded shape, which are 
usually called fossil rain-drops. These marks, however, are questionable in their origin, 
inasmuch as bubbles issuing from a muddy bottom often produce like appearances in the 
mud after it has become indurated by exposure to the sun and air; still there is no great 
objection to the conjecture that they were made by the pattering of drops of water upon a 
soft surface. We can see no objection to the notion that it might have rained in the era 
of this sandstone, as well as on the 4th of July, 1846. 
This rock is distinguished from others, by peculiar fossil fishes. They belong to the 
dark shaly part; and what makes the palaeontology of the rock interesting, is the absence 
of mollusca and conchifera. The fish are solitary, and seem to have been the sole pos¬ 
sessors of the Red Sandstone sea. 
[Agricultural Report.] 
26 
