i894- 



THE WING OF ARCH^OPTERYX. 



439 



III 



forearm and manus, though no special adaptation to this end can be 

 observed in the skeleton. The pollex . . . bore no bastard-wing. 

 . . The wing is rounded in outline, like that of a fowl." This 

 description is supplemented by the accompanying figure, which, 

 though somewhat diagrammatic, is correct in its proportions. (Fig. 3,) 

 Professor Dames in his exhaustive monograph (i) discusses the 

 manus at considerable length. The carpus in particular receives a 

 large share of attention. With Vogt, Dames agrees that only one free 

 carpal bone is visible on the slab, and this, he says, from its position, 

 must represent the radiale, and, judging from its size, probably 

 afforded an articular face for the metacarpals I., II., and perhaps 

 even III., though he suggests that it is probable that metacarpal III. 

 may have articulated with a separate carpal — the ulnare, which is 

 yet concealed under the stone. Attention is drawn to the large size 

 of the radiale, Dames remarking that, while in adult living birds the 

 radiale may vary in size relatively to the ulnare, in the embryo the 

 radiale is the smaller bone, so that, coupled with the fact that there 

 are no free distal carpals, the carpus of Archaeopteryx agrees rather 

 with the adult than with the embryo of living birds. The existence 

 of two proximal carpals is considered almost certain, since he 

 reminds his readers that, among modern birds, the only instances in 

 which the carpus has been reduced to a single distinct bone' in the 

 adult are instances in which the power of flight has been lost, e.g., 

 Casuarius and Apteryx. 



Fig. 2. 



I? ^=^- 



Fig. 3. Fig. ^. 



Restorations of the Wing of Arch^opteryx. 



Fig. 2. From the London specimen, after Owen. 

 Fig. 3. From the Berlin specimen, after Vogt. 

 Fig. 4. From the BerUn specimen, after Dames. 



Further on Dames again refers to the carpus. Here attention is 

 drawn to a groove running across the surface of the large free carpal 



1 The carpal in these cases is the ulnare. 



