The stone, though now very hard and intractable, having resisted all the chemical agents we could employ, must have remained in a soft state for some time; for the impressions of the foot shown below penetrate to the opposite surface.
In this description we have not attempted to point out all the objects worthy of interest on both sides of this curious slab. Every part of it is full of interest, and presents a field for protracted observations. The surface represented in the plate may, by the aid of a magnifier, be studied without the presence of the stone itself; for the photographic art displays the most minute objects without alteration or omission.
Footnotes
[A] The following are the names of French travellers, who have been supposed to have seen the eggs of the Epyornis in the Island of Madagascar: M. Sganzin, in 1831; M. Goudot, in 1833; M. Dumarele, in 1848; and M. Abadie, in 1850.
[B] Mr. Marsh was a mechanic of the town of Greenfield, and procured his subsistence by his daily labor. Being employed by Dr. Deane in obtaining the sandstone slabs of Ornithichnites, he acquired a taste for the pursuit, entered into it with extraordinary ardor, and accumulated by his own labors a great collection of fine specimens. He unfortunately fell into a consumption, and died in 1852. The collection was sold at public auction for a sum between two and three thousand dollars. The specimens were purchased by the Boston Society of Natural History, by Amherst College, and by various colleges and scientific associations in this country.
[C] The specific name of Moodii has been attached to the Otozoum, from its having been discovered by Mr. Moody.