316 ILLUSTKATIVE NOTES. 



obligingly supplied me with a number of pamphlets and curious 

 memoirs from his private collection. 



Page 94. Buffon. — I think that now-a-dayswe too readily forget 

 that this gi'eat generalizer has not the less received and recorded a 

 number of very accurate observations furnished him by men of special 

 vocations, officers of the royal hunt, gamekeepers, marines, and persons 

 of every profession. 



Page 9G. The Penguin. — The brother of the auk, but less de- 

 graded ; he carries his wings like a veritable bird, though they are 

 only membranes floating on an evoided breast. The more rarified 

 air of our northern pole, where he lives, has already expanded his 

 lungs, and the breast-bone begins to project. The legs, less closely 

 confined to the body, better maintain its equilibrium, and the port 

 and attitude gain in confidence. There is here a notable difference 

 between the analogous products of the two hemispheres. 



Page 103. The Petrel, the Qnariners tensor. — The legend of the 

 petrel gliding upon the waves, around the ship which he appears to 

 lead to perdition, is of Dutch origin. This is just as it ought to 

 be. Tlie Dutch, who voyage en famille, and cany with them their 

 wives, their children, even their domestic animals, have been more 

 susceptible to evil auguries than other navigators. Tlie hardiest of 

 all, perhaps— true amphibians — they have not the less been anxious 

 and imaginative, hazarding not only their lives, but their affections, 



