ENHS Nature Trails December 2001 Article 3

The Feathered Reptile of Solenhofen
by Herb Wisner

In browsing through a copy of a bound journal on my bookshelf recently, I came across the following item entitled "The Feathered Reptile of Solenhofen."

"Last summer M. Witte of Hanover, called the attention of M. A. Wagner to a slab of the well known Solenhofen lithographic slate, about one and a quarter square feet in size, containing fossil remains of an extraordinary and bewildering character. The skull, neck, and both hands were wanting, but the greater part of the dorsal vertebrae and all belonging to the tail were well preserved." (There followed several other anatomical descriptions and then...) "Except to the comparative anatomist these singular remains might present nothing striking, but the description proceeds to tell us that the anterior limbs and tail were covered with feathers, which have left their impressions in well marked lines. 'From the short broad bone which lies close to the extremity of each fore arm there issues a radiating fan of feathers, by which two feathered wings are produced, having their external outlines curved like a bow. The tail is also feathered, but the feathers are shorter than those of the wings, and instead of radiating from the end of the tail they spring from both sides throughout its length.' Before the discovery of this fossil, Von Meyer described a feather from the same quarries, which he conjectured to have belonged to a bird, as it was not to be distinguished by any special peculiarity. On receiving the account of M. Witte's investigation, he however came to the conclusion that the feather he had seen must have belonged to a 'similar animal,' which he designated Archaeopteryx lithographica. M. Wagner rejects the idea of the creature having been a variety or new kind of bird. He says 'a reptile with the simple tarsal bone of a bird, and with epidermic structures presenting a deceptive appearance to bird's feathers, is far more comprehensible to me than a bird with the pelvis and vertebral column (especially the long slender series of caudal vertebrae) of a long tailed Pterodactyl, and with perfectly different mode of attachment and of feathers.' Von Meyer states that in his specimen the fibres of the vane can be distinctly traced, and 'even the small barbules with which they are beset.' M. Wagner named the fossil which he examined Griphosaurus (enigma-lizard) and it does not seem that Von Meyer has any reason for supposing the creature to which his feather belonged was of a different nature, although he has given it a different appellation. Von Meyer remarks that in 1824 he pointed out the danger of too closely following Cuvier's theory that a similarity of particular parts indicated a similarity of other parts, or of the whole."

Lest you think that the above item is of recent origin, know now that it was published in 1862. You never know what you might discover browsing through old publications of which I have a number for possible future use from time to time.

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