415 



XXXV. — On portions of a Ceais'ium and oe a Jaw, in the slab 



CONTAINING THE FOSSIL EEMAINS OF THE AeCH^OPTEETX. By 



John Evans, E.E.S., E.G.S. 



It will be remembered tliat in tbe admirable and exbaustive account of 

 the slab containing the unique remains of the Archceopteryx litTiogra- 

 phica of Von Meyer {A. onacrura, Owen) read before the Eoyal Society 

 in NoTcmber, 1862, by Professor Owen, it was stated that beside 

 some other less important portions of the skeleton, the head of that 

 marvellous bird was wanting on the stone ; and it was suggested that 

 as the front margin of the slab had been broken away short of the 

 anterior border of the impression of the outspread left wing, the head 

 or skull of the specimen might have been included in that part of the 

 quarry or stone from which the slab had been detached. 



But upon a careful examination of the slab made on two separate 

 occasions soon after the reading of that paper, I discovered two 

 objects which appeared to have escaped Professor Owen's notice, 

 one of which I thought might with safety be referred to the head of 

 the Archaeopteryx, and the other, though of much more doubtful 

 attribution, might possibly belong to it also. 



I at once brought this discovery under the notice of Professor 

 Owen, and on the publication of his paper in the Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1863, he called attention to the subject by engrav- 

 ing the objects in the margin of the plate of the slab containing the 

 Archseopteryx remains, and also appended the following succinct re- 

 marks in his explanation of the plate. 



n. Concretionary nodules: the larger one consists of matrix, 

 which filled a cavity, n, formed by a thin layer of brownish 

 and crystalline matter ; which may be, as suggested by Mr. 

 John Evans, E.Gr.S., part of the cranium with the cast of the 

 brain of the Arclieopteryx. 

 n' Cavity with a layer of brown matter, ia the counterpart of 



slab, which was applied to the nodule n'. 

 Eig. 3. p'. Premaxillary bone, and Eig. 1 p, its impression, re- 

 sembling that of a fossil fish. 

 Professor Owen has also engraved for comparison, a cast of the 

 fore-part of the brain- cavity of a magpie which I left vdth him, but 

 has abstained from off'ering any decided opinion as to the correctness 

 of my attribution of the corresponding object on the slab to the 

 head of the Archaeopteryx. 



