At the April 21 meeting, the F.B.I. presented the Spaniards with a three-page document detailing their position that the prints from the bag belonged to Mr. Mayfield, said Mr. Melida, the head of the fingerprint unit for the Spanish National Police, whose team analyzed the prints in question. The Spanish law enforcement officials kept pointing out discrepancies between their analysis and that of the F.B.I., but this did not seem to sink in with the Americans, Mr. Melida said.

The Spaniards had said the two prints had seven points, or specific aspects, in common, while the Americans insisted the prints had 15. F.B.I. officials would not discuss the discrepancies.

Mr. Melida said an examination of the two prints showed that the arcs on the lower part of the print curved downward in Mr. Mayfield's print but upward in the print from the bag. In addition, the two prints did not have the same number of concentric rings, or crests, he said.