EVOLUTION OF PENGUINS. 23 







Five species, referred to the genera Palseospheniscus and Paraptenodytes, have been 

 described by Professor Ameghino (1) from remains found in Miocene formations of 

 Patagonia. 



The remains brought back by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901-1903) have 

 proved to be of considerable interest. They were obtained from the older tertiaries 

 (apparently Eocene) of Seymour Island, one of the South Shetlands, lying to the 

 north-west of Ross Island. These have formed the subject of a beautifully-illustrated 

 memoir by Dr. Carl Wiman (22), and deserve some mention here. 



Unfortunately, as in other cases, no skulls were found, but trunk and limb bones 

 occurred in some plenty. Altogether some six genera are described, all of which show 

 somewhat less specialisation than recent penguins. Probably, however, not more than 

 five genera will be allowed to stand, for the bones referred to the genus Cladornis do 

 not seem to be those of a penguin. 



In size these newly described forms range from a species not larger than the black- 

 footed penguin (Spheniscus demersus) of the Cape to giants of twice the size of the 

 Emperor Penguin. 



The largest species (Anthropornis nordenskjoldii), like Palseeudyptes antarcticus, 

 occurred in Eocene times, and stood apparently some six feet high as against the three 

 feet of the modern " Emperor." 



The wings of these early forms appear to have been relatively longer than recent 

 penguins, and further to have approximated more nearly towards the flying wing, since 

 the radial and ulnar condyles of the humerus were much larger, rounder, and wider 

 apart than in living penguins. Similarly the proximal end of the humerus had as yet 

 undergone relatively little change, but at the distal end of the shaft the Epicondylus 

 ulnaris had even then become produced backwards and grooved for sesamoids as in 

 recent types. And what is true of the genus Anthropornis is true also of the later 

 Miocene genera in this matter. Similarly in all the Eocene forms, in the manus the 

 pollex is found to be less completely fused with the Me. II. than in living species ; but 

 no phalangeal bones have so far been discovered, hence there is no record as to whether 

 the II.-III. digits terminated in ungual phalanges. But the Miocene forms appear to 

 differ in no way from modern species. 



The coracoids of the fossil genera all show a larger procoracoid, and this is especially 

 noticeable in the Eocene Anthropornis, in which this bone is relatively shorter and 

 broader than in Aptenodytes. But it is in the tarsometatarsus that these extinct 

 South Shetland forms differ most widely from their modern relatives, inasmuch as this 

 is, in the first place, relatively much longer than in any living species. In Anthropornis, 

 for example, it is, relatively, more than twice as long as in Aptenodytes. Thus in the 

 latter genus the breadth nearly equals the length, while in Anthropornis the breadth is 

 less than half the length. In Delphinornis and Eosphseniscus the same elongated 

 metapodials are also to be noted. Among living penguins Eudyptula has, relatively, 

 the largest tarsometatarsus, the width being about one-third the length, while in 



