244 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



LECTURE ON PENGUINS. 



By Dr. Wilson. 



May 15, 191 1. 



There are many varieties of penguins, but they are all restricted to 

 the Southern Hemisphere. Although a number of fossil forms have 

 been found, they are also not known north of the Equator. With the 

 exception of the Galapagos Islands and the southern shores of the con- 

 tinents, they are chiefly found on the sub-antarctic islands. 



Fossils occur in South America, where many genera have been 

 identified. For instance, six come from Seymour Island (Graham 

 Land) and five from Patagonia. In New Zealand there are fossil 

 skeletons six feet high, which were first described by Huxley. They 

 occur in Eocene limestones. 



The origin of the penguins is obscure. They began to specialize 

 very early in the history of birds, and all relationship to other families 

 is obscured. Probably they could fly once, but now the wing-feathers 

 are not of the type used for flight. The requisite muscles are degenerate 

 and the tendons have become ligamentous. Its feather tracts are dis- 

 tributed like a lizard's scales, and the arrangement is in no way so 

 advanced as in that of a domestic fowl. 



The earliest bird, the Archaopteryx^ had teeth, and one or two 

 modern birds (e.g. the goosander) have makeshift teeth to grip slippery 

 fish. One hopes to find real teeth in the embryo of the emperor 

 penguin, though none are present in the adult bird. 



Some of these early Cretaceous birds were divers, and so had adopted 

 aquatic habits. Their shankbones were formed of three parallel parts, 

 and this structure is exhibited in the emperor, though in all other birds 

 the shankbone is solid. 



Probably New Zealand was the original home of this type of bird. 

 Their nearest allies are the petrels and divers, but the relationship is 

 doubtful. 



Groups. — There are three main groups of penguins — 



( 1 ) Emperor, 



King, 

 Pygosceles. 



From 53 S. 



to the 



edge of the Pack, 



i.e. 7 8° S. 



Adelie. Ringed. Johnny. 



(2) Crested Penguins with long golden fea- r From 38°,S. 



(a) Royal. •> thers over each eye. j to 



(b) Great. J I 55° S. 



(3) Jackass Penguin. { ^E^ate. 



