Origin of Birds
The Compsognathus Skeleton, 1861
Compsognathus longipes was the first reasonably complete dinosaur skeleton ever found. It was discovered in the lithographic limestone of Solnhofen, Bavaria, and described and named in this paper by Wagner. The specimen was apparently a juvenile, but even the adult form is not very large. This discovery of Compsognathus, with its many bird-like features, would shortly lead anatomists such as T. H. Huxley to propose a close affinity between birds and dinosaurs. The near-simultaneous discovery of Archaeopteryx would add considerable weight to the argument.
Wagner illustrated his description with a large folding lithograph of the Compsognathus skeleton still emerging from its limestone matrix. This plate, as well as the lithograph of Archaeopteryx (see item 14), demonstrates the unique ability of the lithographic medium to capture the appearance of a slab of stone and its embedded fossil.
Wagner did not notice, or at least his drawing did not reveal, the presence of a small reptile skeleton within the ribs of Compsognathus. Both Othniel C. Marsh and Baron Nopcsa would later offer interpretations of this skeleton within a skeleton.
Nopcsa and a Dinner for Compsognathus, 1903
In 1881 Othniel Marsh had a chance to examine the type specimen of Compsognathus, described by Wagner in 1861, and he noticed that within its ribs were the tiny bones of a small reptile. He thought it might have been a foetus, but it could also have been a young of the same species that had been swallowed. In other words, Compsognathus could have been cannibalistic.
Baron Nopcsa took a closer look. He rejected the possibility that the small reptile was an embryo--it was too large for that--and on examining the proportions of the bones, he concluded it was not a cannibalized Compsognathus either. Rather, it appeared to be a small lizard that was the very last course in this dinosaur banquet.
In addition to the first evidence of dinosaur eating habits, Nopcsa provided an illustration of the rib region of Compsognathus, showing the lizard bones in question (see below). This illustration does not seem to have ever been reproduced, which is unfortunate, since is remarkably successful in its difficult task. It is interesting to compare Nopcsa's drawing with a detail of Wagner's original plate of Compsognathus (detail at right; for Wagner's complete plate, see first illustration above).