About this Image
A large fold-out illustration of a similar fossil to the one on the previous slide, Anomoepus Major, also showing evidence of the animal sitting on his haunches. It is a rather complicated and unusual fossil, and this drawing, which appeared in Hitchcock's "Ichnology of New England" as a fold-out with footprints the same size as the original fossil. This shows why some might agree with Hitchcock that a simple outline gives a more accurate sense of the precise shape of a track or set of tracks. Note the 5-toed forefeet, 3-toed hind feet with long metatarsal, and sitting bone.
Hitchcock preferred to make a direct outline of a track by simply putting a piece of paper over the imprint and using his pencil to feel the contours as he drew. He believed it gave a cleaner, more accurate image, unclouded by artistic or photographic shading, so that the shape of the footprint showed clearly.
