Richard S. Lull

“ As soon, however, as they became known to men who could appreciate their full significance, the impressions were at once recognized as being of great scientific interest, and it is to the efforts of the late President Edward Hitchcock, of Amherst College, that we owe the founding and development of a study which soon rose to the dignity of a science. ”

“ If one should picture an animal about twenty feet in length, weighty in build, with talon-like hind claws, and therefore with small fore limbs and with a fairly erect posture so that the tip of the rather short heavy tail touched the ground, one would have a fair notion of this the maximum form, both in size and in degree of specialization of the Connecticut valley carnivores.
The other group of carnivorous dinosaurs were of a very different sort, always retaining their agility and the grasping power of their fore limbs, but not increasing very materially in bulk. ”

“ During the Mesozoic age, comparable to the medieval times in human history, reptiles were the dominant forms; they occupied the places in the economy of nature to-day taken by the birds and beasts, both animal and plant feeding, as well as by the whales and other denizens of the air, earth and sea; but among the great reptilian assemblage none were more varied in size, aspect and habits than the dinosaurs or terrible lizards, at that time the peers of the animal realm. ”

“ Fossil footprints have been found in various parts of the world, as in England, Germany, France, and, in our own country, in the Grand Canon of the Colorado, as well as in association with Jurassic dinosaurs in the northwest; but it is in the valley of the Connecticut and in rocks of the same formation in New Jersey that they occur in an abundance and perfection of preservation which is unrivaled elsewhere. ”

“ Then the animal stops and comes down on all fours impressing the little hands and long heels, then, having satisfied its purpose, it rises again to its hind feet, touching one hand and the tail tip once more to the ground in regaining its balance, and then goes on its way. ”

“ In studying the footprint slabs one frequently comes across some very small impressions, hardly exceeding three inches in length, three-toed, with no indication of a grasping claw behind, nor of a tail trace. One might be apt to attribute these little footprints to the young of the larger species until one notices the great interval between the successive tracks, a distance six to eight times the length of the foot itself. ”

“ While no skeletons are known from the same horizon with which the footprint may be compared, it seems safe to consider it one of these aberrant carnivores, of very slender build, agile, and of habits possibly similar to those of the wading birds. ”

“ The fore limbs could always be used for the support of the forward parts of the body, though perhaps not always for food gathering. It is extremely doubtful whether any of the earlier plant feeders ever walked on all fours, though in the later forms, owing to the great weight of armament which they carried, a four-footed gait was rendered necessary. The herbivorous dinosaurs proved a more plastic race than their carnivorous brethren, and towards the close of their career there arose among them the remarkable types, already alluded to, which marked the decadence of the group. ”

“ A study of the skeleton seems to indicate that the center of gravity came just about the region of the hip socket, so that the weight of the tail counterbalanced that of the forward portion of the body, thus making progression upon the hind limbs the only probable gait. ”

“ It is a slender animal with an extremely long tail. The hind limbs are fitted for locomotion par excellence, while the fore limbs are more slender with but three very long fingers in the hand, admirable for grasping elusive prey. ”

“ In the strata formed toward the close of the Cretaceous, or final period, the dinosaurs reach their maximum of specialization, developing forms among the most weird, grotesque, as well as the most terrifying, the world has ever known. ”

“ The third are the true quadrupeds, not alone in resting posture, but during locomotion as well, in some cases with feet whose impressions are full of character, which gives some clue to their maker's affinities; others slender toed and obscure, whose true relationship with known creatures it is difficult to conjecture. ”

“ The Middletown Slab covered with the Footprints of Carnivorous Dinosaurs.
The tracks are in high relief. capable of making tracks. It will be seen at once that the only true key to these nature's hieroglyphics would be actual skeletal remains associated with the footprints or, if found elsewhere, in beds of equivalent age. In 1818 the first fossil skeleton found in the valley was discovered at New Windsor, Conn., and later, just before the civil war, another was brought to light at Springfield, Mass. ”