238 ME. W. p. PTCEAFT ON SO-CALLED 



remex and that next succeeding it, seemed to justify tlie con- 

 clusion that a remex had been lost — that the wing had undergone 

 a reduction of the original number of its remiges by the loss of 

 the 5tli quill. The aim of the present paper is to show that no 

 such loss has taken place. The 5th remex has lost its original 

 relations, but not its existence. 



Before proceeding further, it will be well to say a few words 

 concerning the terms which have been proposed as substitutes 

 for the older and less exact " Quinto- " and " Aquinto-cabital." 

 At the time this paper was read the names Stichoptylic for the 

 former, and Apoptylic for the latter were used. These were 

 suggested to me by Prof. E. Eay Lankester, and were certainly 

 preferable to those which we both desired to supplant. But it 

 will be remembered that Mn P. Chalmers Mitchell, in the course 

 of his paper dealing with this same question, suggested the 

 names Eutaxic for the quintocubital or stichoptilic form, and 

 Diastataxic for the aquintocubital or apoptilic. His names not 

 only have priority over mine, or, rather, Prof. Lankester's (his 

 paper having been read before mine), but they are, I think, 

 actually preferable ; hence, throughout this paper, I shall adopt 

 the terminology proposed by him. Moreover, by doing this I 

 shall be rendering a service to my readers, by saving them the 

 labour of keeping in mind the values of some half-dozen names 

 for what may be called the positive and negative of one and the 

 same thing. 



The Embryo Wing. 



In all wings, the feather rudiments appear first along the 

 post-axial border of the wing ; those representing the remiges 

 and their major coverts appearing simultaneously, and some- 

 times together with very faint traces of one or more of the 

 pre-axial rows representing the median and minor coverts. At 

 this stage, it is often not possible to say whether a wing will 

 ultimately prove eu- or diasta-taxic. The change takes place, 

 however, generally at the close of this phase of development. 

 As the rudiments of the median and minor coverts become more 

 distinct, it will be noticed that the papillae representing the 

 remiges 1-4 no longer form an unbroken series with those 

 running from this point inwards, but that they have moved 

 backwards and downwards ; sometimes this is very marked, 

 sometimes only very slightly so. The hitherto unbroken series 



