1871.] 335 [Wilder. 



Morphical Integers. 



This suggests a further and very important enquiry. What is a 

 morphical integer, whether in the muscular or osseous system, or 

 among the digits and dactyls ? The phrase "morphological integer" is 

 first used by Coues (70, 222), but the general problem has been con- 

 sidered by Owen and others, with especial reference to the bones. 

 The question of Spencer (299, 2, 526), "How are centres of ossifi- 

 cation which have a homological meaning to be distinguished from 

 those which have not ? " is not answered satisfactorily by Owen's ref- 

 erence to a "knowledge of the archetype skeleton" (63, 1, xxiv), 

 since the knowledge itself depends upon the prior determination of 

 the question. I do not feel ready to discuss the question, but 

 would call attention to its great importance, and to the need 

 of such investigations as those of Parker; this author (292, 4) 

 thinks that " true and safe landmarks " for the recognition of 

 " morphological territories," may be found in segmentation both by 

 fission of primary cartilage, and by the appearance of two or more 

 separate centres of ossification within the same undivided tract " ; 

 but it is evident that much more remains to be done, not only for the 

 bones, but for the muscles, in order to ascertain the morphical inte- 

 gers and equivalents in the osseous and muscular and other sys- 

 tems. 



What Constitutes a Digit or a Dactyl? 



There do not appear to have arisen as yet any serious discrepan- 

 cies between the statements of different authors respecting the num- 

 ber of digits or dactyls which may exist in a given animal ; but since 

 no one, so far as I know, has given a general rule by which to deter- 

 mine the above question, and it is probable that at some time direct 

 contradictions will appear in different works 1 , it is worth our while to 

 inquire into the elements which might form the basis of such a rule. 



Among the mammalia, the vast majority of those digits and 

 dactyls about which no question can arise, consist of three phalanges, 

 are visible to the eye as subdivisions of the distal extremity of the 

 member, and perform some obvious function in the economy of the 

 animal ; the ordinary mammalian digit or dactyl is then functional, 

 visible, and trimerous. But to this definition are many exceptions. 



1 Leading perhaps to as unfortunate complications as the conflicting accounts of 

 the hippocampus minor and the corpus ".allosum. 



