Archeeopteryx macrura. 435 
doubtless, came the feather described by Herr von Meyer. 
The pelvis, the legs, the long tail furnished with feathers were 
grandly preserved ; but, except the wing-feathers, which were 
disordered, and some loose and dislocated bones belonging 
to the anterior extremities, all the rest of the skeleton was 
wanting. Prof. Owen himself compared the remains pre- 
served in the slab to those of a sea-bird cast upon the 
shore, after all the fleshy parts had been eaten by carnivorous 
animals. 
In spite of these defects, the slab was bought for a very 
considerable sum by the British Museum, Mr. Waterhouse 
having been sent to Pappenheim for that purpose. Prof. 
Owen, I hardly know why, changed the specific name from 
lithographica, given by Herr von Meyer, to macrura, struck, 
as he was, by the considerable length of the tail. 
Three or four years ago the son of the late Dr. Haberlein 
found a slab which he suspected, from seeing one of the leg- 
bones, to contain a second example of Archeopteryx. He 
succeeded in splitting the slab so as to have on one of its 
halves the whole animal, and on the other its impression. 
Very skilful in such work, he succeeded in disengaging almost 
the whole skeleton from its bed, and offered it for sale, toge- 
ther with a very remarkable collection of Solenhofen fossils, 
containing twenty-six drawers of beautiful specimens (Algze, 
Insects, Crustaceans, Cephalopods, Fishes, and Reptiles), to 
the number of at least three hundred. 
The collection, of which the Archeopteryx was the principal 
ornament, was sold for 36,000 marks to Herr Volger, Director 
of the Freie Deutsche Hochstift at Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
The contract expressly stipulated that no reproduction by 
modelling, photography, drawing, or any other process should 
be permitted before payment had been made in full. Seals 
having been placed on the collection, Herr Volger carried off 
the principal slab to Frankfort. 
Herr Volger nursed the hope that the Emperor William 
would buy the specimen to preserve it to Germany. His 
Majesty did not enter into these views. Ah! if, instead of 
a bird, a petrified cannon or gun had been concerned ! 
262 
