334 



NATURE 



\_Feb, 2, I 



and such extinct forms as have been worked out — Archesopteryx, 

 Hespercrnis, Ichthyornis — show that the primary form of the 

 bird's wing is simply tri-digitate. In this I agree with Baur, 

 who has helped me greatly in this matter, both by his valuable 

 papers and also by personal discussion with me. 



The normal " manus " of a Carinate bird contains two per- 

 manently distinct carpals : three carpals that lose their independ- 

 ence by anchylosis with the metacarpals, and three digital rays 

 extending from the three fused metacarpals. 



In some birds, e.g. the Passerinae, the pollex of the first digit 

 has only one phalanx attached to its short metacarpal, the second 

 only two, and the third only one, phalanx. In others. Plovers, 

 Gulls, Cormorants, &c., an additional or «<«^<a/ phalanx is found 

 on the first and second digit ; and in some birds, e.g. Nitmenitis, 

 during their embryonic state, a small semi-distinct nucleus is seen 

 on the end of the aborted phalanx of the third digit. 



In my as yet unpublished paper I have mentioned a sub-distinct 

 tract of very solid fibro-cartilage, which evidently corresponds 

 with what has been called "pr?e-pollex" by Kehrer and others.^ 



I am satisfied, now, that this very notable part is the remnant 

 of the skeleton of the spur, so remarkably developed in the 

 Palamedidae, certain Geese, Plovers, and Jacanas. 



This part therefore need not interfere with the consideration 

 of the true secondary digital parts. 



Among the last communications received by me from Dr. 

 Baur, I find in print what I had already learned from him 

 orally. 



In some "General Notes" published in the American 

 Naturalist, September 1887, p. 839, I find the following 

 paragraph : — "The oldest Ichthyopterygia had few phalanges and 

 not more than five digits ; the radius and ulna were longer than 

 broad, and separated by a space. Later, through the adaptation 

 to the water, more phalanges were developed, more digits 

 appeared, mostly by division of the former, or by new formation 

 on the ulnar side. I have never found a new digit developed on 

 the radial side." 



These are most important facts, some of which — namely, the 

 bifurcation of the digital rays — I had received some light upon 

 before, both from Dr. Gadow and from Prof D'Arcy W. 

 Thompson.^ 



I find that the carpus, tnetacatpus, and digital rays are all apt 

 to increase in number beyond what is normal. 



Long ago I found, in one of the Palamedidse, e.g. Chauna 

 chavaria, two ulnar carpals, apparently an ' ' ulnare " proper, 

 and " centrale." More recently, in the embryo of a more 

 normal Chenomorph — the Falkland Island Goose {Chlo'ephaga 

 poliocephala) — I ' found the ulnare nearly divided into two 

 segments. 



On the other side of the carpus in an embryo Kestrel {Falco 

 tinnunculus) and in a young Sparrow-hawk {Accipiter nisus), I 

 found a ' ' radiale " in two pieces, the outer of which in the 

 latter was degenerating into the large " os proi/iineus" which is 

 found in the tendon of the "tensor patagii " muscle of rapacious 

 birds. 



In the embryos of Gulls, Auks, Guillemots, &c., the large 

 "distal carpal" of the index or second digit sends forward a 

 long wedge of cartilage towards an additional metacarpal 

 nucleus. Evidently this is the rudiment of another carpal seeking 

 to be attached to its own intercalary metacarpal. 



Further on, on the large second digit, the flat dilated part of 

 the proximal phalanx, on its ulnar side, also, is developed from 

 a distinct tract of true cartilage, but soon loses its independence ; 

 it forms the plate on which some of the primary quills are fixed. 



Still further on, on the ulnar side, near the small well-developed 

 ungual phalanx of the embryo, but later, after hatching, a small 

 oval cartilage appears, and is ossified independently. 



A similar tract of cartilage is formed on the pollex or first 

 digit, also, but is somewhat smaller than that on the second ; it 

 is on the ulnar side and near the ungual phalanx. 



In the feeble third digit I only find a rudimentary secondary 

 metacarpal, on the ulnar side ; this is very constant throughout 

 the CarinatcB ; and sometimes, as I have already mentioned, 

 there is a small rudiment of a second phalanx on that digit which, 

 in the Lizard, has_;^«^ phalanges.^ 



' " Beitrage zur Kentniss des Carpus und Tarsus der Amphibien, Rep- 

 tilien,und Sniieer," Berzckte der Naturforsclienden Gesellschaft zu Freiburg 

 i. B., vol. i, 1886 (Heft 4 und Taf. 4). 



^ See his paper on the hind limbs of Ichthyosaurus, 8ic., Journ, Anat, 

 Physiol., vol. xx, pp. 1-4 (reprint). 



3 The figures of these parts, and also of the rest of the developing 

 skeleton in , these birds— Ducks, Auks, Guillemots, &c. — are ready for 

 publication. 



In seeking for evidence of the manner in which these high and 

 noble hot-blooded feathered forms arose from among the Archaic 

 Reptilia, I think that something has been gained in what I have 

 stated above. 



The skull brings evidence of the same sort during its develop- 

 ment, and it is to ancient long-beaked forms, and not to modern 

 short-faced types of Reptilia, that we must look for any near 

 relationship of the Reptiles in the Birds. 



In the GmWtraoi {Uria troile) I have satisfied myself that 

 there has been a considerable amount of secular shortening of 

 the beak (rostrum and fore-part of mandibles), and if we look at 

 Dr. Marsh's figures of Hesperornis and Ichthyornis we shall see 

 what long bills these toothed birds possessed. 



But there is no part of a developing bird's skeleton that is not 

 rich with suggestive facts of this kind, as I propose to show in 

 due lime. 



January 26. — "On the Emigration of Amoeboid Corpuscles 

 in the Star-fish {Asterias ruliens)." By Herbert E. Durham, 

 B.A., lately Vintner Exhibitioner, King's College, Cambridge. 

 Communicated by Dr. P. H. Carpenter, F.R.S., F.L.S. 



When small particles {e.g. Indian ink) are introduced into the 

 body cavity of a specimen of Asterias rubens, they are soon 

 ingested by the amoeboid corpuscles of the ccelomic fluid ; the 

 latter are carried in various directions by the currents set up by 

 the cilia of the coelomic epithelium. In the dermal branchi^ 

 these granule-laden corpuscles were observed to adhere to the 

 wall of the branchia, and migrate by amoeboid movement to the 

 exterior. [Where such migration is proceeding very actively, a 

 perforation filled by a plug of the corpuscles is formed.] 

 Arrived at the exterior, the corpuscles retain an irregular 

 shape for a while, then they become spherical, swell up, and 

 disintegrate. 



Besides corpuscles thus laden with foreign granules, corpuscles 

 containing refringent sphaerules (sphseruliferous corpuscles, " Plas- 

 ma- Wanderzellen ") were observed in the extruded material : 

 emigration of such corpuscles was also noted to take place in 

 specimens kept in captivity in glass vessels. Hamann's observa- 

 tion that " Plasma- Wanderzellen" occur in the branchia; of 

 Echinids helps to confirm the view that this a normal process : 

 further observations are necessary to elucidate its significance. 

 [Dr. Hartog's statements as regards the outward current in the 

 water-tube (stone-canal), were confirmed by the presence of 

 corpuscles in the pore-canals of the madreporite.] 



With regard to the other point, it seems clear that minute 

 foreign bodies introduced into the system of a star-fish can be, 

 and are, got rid of by scavenging corpuscles. 



"Note on the Madreporite of Cribrella ocellata." By the 

 same. 



The dogma laid down by Ludwig is that the cavity of the 

 water-vascular system is isolated from other cavities. In a series 

 of sections carried through the madreporite, &c., of Cribrella 

 ocellata, it was seen that a few pore-canals of the madreporic 

 plate open directly into the " Schlauchformiger Kanal " ; the 

 ampulla into which the water-tube (stone-canal) dilates being 

 also connected by an opening with the " Schlauchformiger 

 Kanal " : this latter space being enterocoelic in origin, it is 

 interesting to compare the arrangement in Crinoids. 



Zoological Society, January 17. — Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — The Secretary read a report on 

 the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie 

 during the month of December 1887, and called attention to a 

 small Fox from Afghanistan, presented by Lieut. -Col. Sir O. B. 

 C. St. John, which should probably be referred to the species 

 shortly noticed by Blyth as Vulpes griffithi. It was, however, 

 somewhat doubtful whether the species was really distinct from 

 Vulpes leucopus, Blyth, the small Desert Fox of Western India. 

 — Mr. Francis Day exhibited and made remarks on some hybrid 

 fishes from Howietoun, and on a British specimen of the Spined 

 Loche. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a report on a collection of 

 Mammals obtained by Emin Pasha in Central Africa, and pre- 

 sented by him to the Natural History Museum. The collection 

 contained 115 specimens belonging to 39 species. The great mass 

 of the collection had been obtained in a district called Monbuttu, 

 just within the Congo Basin. A new Flying Squirrel, of small 

 size, was named Anomukirus pusi litis, and a new Tree-Hyrax, 

 Dendrohyrax emini, after its discoverer. — Capt. G. E. Shelley, 

 read a paper on a collection of birds made by Emin Pasha in 

 Equatorial Africa. The series had been formed partly in the 

 Upper Nile district and partly in the Monbuttu country in the 



