198 



THE GEOLO&IST. 



The Geiphosaurus. — " On a 'New Fossil Eeptile, supposed to be fur- 

 nished with Feathers," by A. Wagner. The above is the title of an article 

 ■which occupies the most prominent position in the pages of our contempo- 

 rary the ' Annals and Magazine of IS'atural History ' for April, and is 

 translated by W. S. Dallas, F.L.S., from the ' Sitzungsberichte der Miinch- 

 ner Akad. der Wiss.,' 1861, p. 146. 



In it is detailed the account of a conversation held between Prof. Wag- 

 ner and M. Witte, of Hanover, in which the latter gentleman described 

 that he had seen a skeleton in the possession of M. Haberlein, of Pappen- 

 heim, from the lithographic slate of Solenhofen, " with such a combination 

 of cliaracters that nothing more surprising and odd could be imagined. 

 This specimen, indeed, wanted the skull and the two hands, but in other 

 respects the most important parts of the skeleton were well preserved. 

 The most remarkable thing about it was, that a well-marked coat of fea- 

 thers was present, both on the anterior limbs and on the tail. These 

 feathers agreed in their configuration so exactly with those of true birds, 

 that their interpretation as such could hardly be doubted. The discovery 

 of feathers in the lithographic slate was of itself something unprecedented, 

 but the mode of their union with the skeleton bordered on the incredible. 

 Thus, the tail-feathers -va ere attached to a tail possessing not the least re- 

 semblance to that of a bird, but presenting a deceptive similarity to that 

 of a Ram'phory7ichus. And the attachment of the wings was still more asto- 

 nishing ; for these, on both the anterior limbs, formed a fan, radiating from 

 the extremity of the fore-arm." 



This information, coming from a man whose judgment Prof. Wagner 

 " could not but respect as that of one well acquainted with the subject," 

 naturally caused doubt in the mind of the learned German Professor. The 

 discovery by Herman v. Meyer, of authenticated evidence of feathers in 

 the Solenhofen slate (' Geologist,' vol. v. p. 74) seemed to afford an addi- 

 tional corroboration of M. Witte's statement. A friend of Wagner, how- 

 ever, whose name has not transpired, sent to him a report upon the speci- 

 men, which we transcribe verbatim : — " Skull, neck, and both hands 

 wanting. Of the vertebral column, the greater part of the vertebree of the 

 trunk, and the whole of those of the tail, are completely preserved. The 

 former are of moderate length and uncovered ; the tail, which measures 

 upwards of six inches, consists of about twenty vertebrae of an elongate 

 narrow form, the dimensions of which slowly but constantly diminish, so 

 that the last of them is the smallest. Of the anterior limbs, the humerus 

 and fore-arm are present on both sides ; they are strong bones, pretty 

 nearly of equal length, and the fore-arm consists of radius and ulna. At 

 the {interior extremity of each fore-arm, there is a broad, short bone, but 

 this is uninjured. Of the pelvis only the right half is preserved ; it is but 

 small, and is comparable, not with the pelvis of a bird, but rather with 

 that of a Pterodactyle. On the left side, the whole hinder extremity is 

 preserved ; on the right, only the thigh and shank. The former is a 

 powerful and not very long bone ; the latter is somewhat longer and thinner, 

 and is simple — at least, a separation into tibia and fibula is not perceptible. 

 The tarsus consists only of a single powerful bone, which is shorter than 

 the shank bone with which it is in contact ; its lower extremity is consider- 

 ably wid(Micd, and bears three articular processes, to which the three toes 

 are attached. The latter are of moderate length, and armed with strong 

 hooked claws. Feathers occur both on the anterior limbs and on the tail ; 

 they have, however, left only their impressions, but these show sharply- 

 dofinod outlines, and upon a passing glance they present a deceptive re- 

 semblance to birds' feathers. From the above-mentioned short, broad 



