Additional facts respecting the clathropteris of East Hampton, Massachusetts
Description:
An extract from "Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fourteenth meeting, held at Newport, Rhode Island, August, 1860" consisting of three reports by Edward Hitchcock, with some illustrations. The first piece contains remarks by Hitchcock on ichnology. In his remarks, Hitchcock discusses the history of ichnology as a science, and focuses on five specific points. First, he proposes that species determined only by fossil footprints be grouped separately from those identified by skeletons; second, he claims that prints from a hind foot do not completely obliterate prints made by a forefoot when placed in the same place; third, he argues against the idea that none of the tracks in the Connecticut River Valley were made by birds; fourth, he discusses evidence that animals existed during "sandstone days" that had characteristics similar to those in prior and later time periods; and fifth, he proposes that some Lithichnozoa species were likely marsupials. The second piece by Hitchcock focuses on the geology of a dyke at Nash's Point, Vermont. Hitchcock describes his analysis of specimens obtained there and draws conclusions about the heat of the rocks when they were made. The third piece discusses a fossil fern called clathropteris that was discovered by his son, Edward Hitchcock, Jr. Hitchcock gives some additional facts about the ferns that were not included in Hitchcock, Jr.'s initial description of them, focusing on the fronds of these ferns, their stems, and their roots.
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