568.2 26i 



V. 



The Wing of Archaeopteryx . 



r PHAT the wing of Avchceoptevyx possessed five digits has now been 

 1 urged upon the readers of Natural Science on two separate- 

 occasions (i, 2). 



The object of this paper is to bring forward a few additional 

 facts which appear fatal to that hypothesis. Although primarily 

 concerned with the wing, it incidentally refers to certain other parts 

 of the skeleton. I write now, not, as formerly (4), from the evidence 

 of photographs, but from a study of the actual fossils in the London 

 and Berlin museums. 



With regard to the carpus, it has been contended (2) that only 

 the proximal row of carpals of Avchceoptevyx has been recognised; that 

 this is represented by two bones, one being the radiale, the other the 

 ulnare ; and that the former is visible in both fossils, the latter in only 



Mc.n ML.m \ 



Fig. 1. — Carpus and Metacarpus of the Left Wing of Arch.fopteryx, 



Dorsal view. 

 C, Crystalline matter; D.Cp., Distal row of fused carpals; Mc. I, II, III,. 

 Metacarpals, I, II, and III ; Ph. I, Phalanx I of digit I ; K, Radius ; U, Ulna. 



the London specimen. On this view, the London fossil should 

 present both a radiale and an ulnare. As a matter of fact, however, it 

 has but one bone that can possibly be regarded as a carpal, and this 

 was figured by Owen as the radiale, but is identified by Dr. Hurst (2) 

 as the ulnare. The only visible carpal in the Berlin fossil is 

 certainly not a radiale, and it is quite possible that the so-called 

 " ulnare " of the London fossil is not a carpal at all. 



The " ulnare " just referred to must be regarded as of prime 

 importance to the hypothesis under discussion. I suggest that it may 

 represent the proximal articular surface of the metacarpals of the 

 right wing, masked by the incrustation of mineral matter. 



Only one carpal can be traced in the Berlin fossil, and this has 

 been identified by Dr. Hurst as the " radiale." Fig. 1, which has been 



