^"goa^'] HUTTON, Penguins. 3 



The genus Aptenodytes is represented in the New Zealand 

 seas by the King Penguin {A. patagonica), which breeds in large 

 numbers on Macquarie Island. Pygoscelis papiia, commonly 

 known among sealers as the Gentoo or Johnny, breeds in one 

 locality on Macquarie Island. Catarrhictes scJilegeli, known as 

 the Ro3^al, is found in immense numbers on Macquarie Island. 

 The Rockhopper {C. padiyrJiyncJms) breeds on the Snares and 

 in the West Coast sounds of New Zealand. Sclater's Penguin 

 {C. sclaieri) has its headquarters at the Antipodes and Bounty 

 Islands, while the Little Macaroni {C. chrysoco7ne), known in 

 New Zealand as the Victoria, breeds in small numbers on the 

 Antipodes, Campbell, and Macquarie Islands. Megadyptes 

 anttpodum, the Yellow-eyed Penguin — sometimes called the 

 Grand Penguin — breeds on Campbell Island, the Auckland 

 Islands, Stewart Island, and the south of New Zealand, 

 generally in groups of about a dozen. It never forms rookeries. 

 The Blue Penguin {Eiidyptuia minor) lives on the coasts of New 

 Zealand from Stewart Island to the Great Barrier Island, north 

 of Auckland, and it also occurs on the coasts of Tasmania and 

 Australia ; while E. albosignata appears to be restricted to 

 Banks Peninsula. Out of the breeding season stray birds of 

 most of the species may be found north of their breeding-places, 

 but I believe that only four species breed in New Zealand. 



That the Penguins are descended from flying birds is proved 

 by the structure of the wing. Not only are the bones on the 

 same pattern as that found in other birds, but several of the 

 muscles of flying birds are represented in the Penguins by non- 

 contractile tendinous bands, which are functionally useless, but 

 which have not yet altogether disappeared. It is certain that 

 they are not closely related to the Auks of the northern hemis- 

 phere — which are somewhat like Penguins in appearance — but 

 that they come nearest to the Petrels, or Tubinares, although 

 the two groups are so different in form. This makes it difficult 

 to guess what the ancestors of the Penguins were like. 



The oldest Penguin known is Palceeudyptes antarctiais* from 

 the eocene or oligocene rocks of New Zealand. But it is a true 

 Penguin, and, except that the wing is proportionally rather 

 longer than in living Penguins, it shows no other intermediary 

 character. The only other known fossil Penguins are four 

 species of PaleospJieniscus,-\ and one of Faraptenodytes\ from the 

 miocene of Patagonia.§ 



* Huxley, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc, xv., p. 672 (1859), and Hector, Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., iv., p. 341 (1872). 



t Moreno and Mercerat, " Annalee del Museo de La Plata Palaeontologie 

 Argentina," i., p. 29 (1891). 



J Ameghino, Bol. Inst. Geog. Argent. (1S95), xv., p. 91. 



§ Cladornis pachypus, also from the miocene of Patagonia, is placed with the 

 Penguins by Dr Anieghino ; but its position seems to be doubtful. It is known only 

 by an imperfect metatarsus, which is much longer in proportion to its width than in 

 the true Penguins, and it shows no mter-metatarsal foramina. 



