Special Features - Slideshow

Representing Fossil Footprints

American Journal of Science, Vol XXIX, January 1836. Image courtesy of American Journal of Science.

About this Image

This drawing of the Eubrontes giganteus type specimen was made by Orra White Hitchcock for her husband's initial article about the fossil tracks. The drawing showed the track actual size and was tipped in to the journal as a fold-out, because Hitchcock wanted to impress upon readers the extraordinary size of the footprint and, by inference, the animal that made it. The (unrelated) smaller track at the upper right has what appears to be a hairy appendage behind, but was meant to show wrinkles and striations in the mud.