342 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
upon which the bird Avas left at the time of its death, the 
upper being composed of the layers deposited by subsequent 
tides, and to which we are indebted for the preservation of the 
fossil. 
The impressions of the feathers are most beautifully preserved 
upon the lower slab, exhibiting the tail and wings and some 
further portions of the skeleton itself. The head, neck, and 
dorsal vertebrae are wholly wanting. The right scapula and 
humerus and both the fore-arms are well preserved. Two of 
the digits of the wing appear to have been free, and armed with 
sharp recurved claws. 
In modern birds the anterior of the three digits of the pinion 
remains free, and in some species supports a claw or spur, e.g. 
the Syrian blackbird, spur-winged goose, the “Jacana”; the 
Screamer (. Palamedea cornuta) has two spurs ; the Megapode 
has a tubercular rudiment of a pinion (Owen). 
The lower right limb is well preserved, consisting of femur, 
tibia, and tarso-metatarsal bones ; to the latter bone four toes 
are articulated, one hind toe and three fore toes, having seve- 
rally 1, 2, 3, and (4?) joints as in all birds, and armed with 
strong recurved claws. The foot agrees well with that of a true 
perching-bird, but from the fanwise and rounded arrangement 
of the wing-feathers it would appear to have been a bird of 
feeble flight. 
On the occasion of the reading of Professor Owen’s paper, 
November 20, 1862, Mr. John Grould, F.R.S., the ornithologist, 
expressed the opinion that the wings of the A rchceopteryx were 
not adapted for flight. 
The most singular and unavian characteristic of this Oolitic 
bird is its tail, which is complete, and .consists of twenty narrow 
elongated vertebrae, the dimensions of which slowly, but con- 
stantly diminish, so that the last is the smallest. The feathers 
of the tail are attached in pairs to each vertebra throughout its 
entire length. 
In most recent birds, we find the tail very short and 
powerful, composed of vertebrae, varying from five to nine in 
number, having well-developed spinous processes on their upper 
and under side — the last vertebra being very peculiarly formed, 
and, with few exceptions, always the largest . This last joint, 
called the ploughshare bone or os coccygis , is composed of two or 
more coalesced vertebrae, and gives attachment to the retrices 
or rudder quill-feathers of the tail, and supports the coccygeal 
oil-glands. 
66 With the exception of the caudal vertebrae,” writes Professor 
Owen, “ and possibly the biunguiculate and less confluent con- 
dition of the manus, the parts of the skeleton preserved in this 
