THE WING-FINGER OF PTERODACTYLS 



697 



und zwar nur ein Finger, die Ohr- 

 finger, welche wegen der Kleinheit 

 womit er in der Hand anderen 

 Geschopfe sich darstellt auch der 

 kleine Finger genannt wird" (Pale- 

 ontographica [1851], 19). 



But Meyer soon returned to the 

 Cuvierian position, calling the first 

 of the small, clawed fingers the 

 thumb. I can find no independent 

 arguments of Meyer giving the 

 reasons for his views; indeed in 

 various places he is more or less 

 obscure, referring to the "Flug- 

 finger" as the "Ohrfinger," though 

 there can be no doubt but that as 

 early as i860 he had, as I think, 

 correctly recognized the digit as 

 the fourth. Owen in his Pale- 

 ontology and Comparative Anatomy 

 of Vertebrates figures four small, 

 clawed fingers in front of the wing- 

 finger, which he calls the fifth. 

 Later he reverted to the Cuvierian 

 view. Goldfuss's views were fol- 

 lowed by Oscar Fraas and most 

 modern authors, including Marsh, 

 Zittel, Plieninger, and Eaton. In 

 1904, 1 without at the time having 

 read Cuvier's remarks on the sub- 

 ject, I published a brief article in 

 the London Geological Magazine 

 giving reasons for the older view, 

 that the finger is in reality the 

 fourth, as based chiefly upon the 

 recognized normal number of 

 phalanges in the hands of reptiles. 



1 "The Fingers of Pterodactyls," The Geological Magazine, 1904, p. 59. 



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