46 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



marked on the anterior surface of the bone, but ends blindly and does not appear on the 

 posterior surface of the common metatarsal mass. In Spheniscus magellanicus, on the 

 contrary, both foramina are pervious. 



Professor Huxley * has established the new genus of Palceeudi/ptes for the reception 

 of a Penguin of large size, a portion of the metatarsus of which was ol^tained from the 

 pliocene strata of New Zealand. This decision was arrived at from the consideration of 

 a number of points in which the metatarsus of the Penguin in question differs from that 

 of the species composing the genera Aptenodytes, Eudyptes, and Spheniscus. From a 

 careful perusal of Professor Huxley's paper, as well as from an examination of the meta- 

 tarsal bones of recent Penguins, I am inclined, with diffidence however, to dissent from 

 the opinion of that anatomist with regard to the characteristic features of the bird in 

 question being of generic value, and to regard them rather as being characteristic of 

 a species which might very well have been included along with others in one of the 

 recent genera, probably Eudyj^tes, of existing Spheniscidse. 



The table shows the dimensions of the metatarsus in different species in inches. 



The Phalanges. 



The toes, as in birds in general, are four in number. The first or rudimental 

 toe consists of two, the second of three, the third of four, and the fourth of five 



' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xv. p. 670. 



