Clarification

[PTJN@aol.com]

I've been unsuccessful finding Sankar Chatterjee's e-mail, so I'll post my
inquiry to the list.

I'm considering sculpting the skeleton of Protoavis texensis based upon
Chatterjee's description in his book, Rise of the Birds (1997, John Hopkins
University Press).  This is the most complete description of Protoavis I've
been able to find.

Upon close reading, however, there appear to be several inconsistencies in
Chatterjee's book, two of which I'd appreciate some clarification on from
knowledgeable members of the list.

On pages 54 Chatterjee says "The manus is beautifully preserved in Protoavis.
It shows four separate carpal and four metacarpal bones without any sign of
fusion."  On the next page (55), he says "Both metacarpals II and III appear
to fuse at the ends to form a large intermetacarpal space."  The associated
illustrations do not appear to show any fusion.  What is the correct
interpretation of these (seemingly contradictory) statements?

The illustrations of the humerus and femur of Protoavis on pages 52 and 58,
respectively, depict a humerus (based on the published scale bars) 50% longer
than the femur.  I suspect this is simply a misprint, since all of the full
body skeletal reconstructions in the book show the humerus, at most, 10%
longer than the femur.  But I'm not sure.  Does anyone know the actual
condition?

Any help with these would be appreciated.

Pat Norton