240 



THE UNIVEKSE. 



Amons? the different tribes of the air, only one species, 

 a singular one in all respects, as much fish as bird, evades 

 the general law, and does not commit its offspring to any 

 kind of nest: it is the Patagonian penguin, which only 

 lives amid ice, rocks, and waves, and of which the wings 



145. The King eeusmu—Atitcnodiitcsputagoiiint (Gmelin). 



are quite unfitted for flying. But we must admit that the 

 love displayed Ijy the parents for their brood makes one at 

 once forgive their idleness and stupidity. 



Like the kangaroos, those mammals of Australia which 

 conceal their little ones in a ventral sack, the female pen- 

 onin constantly carries her solitary egg in a pouch formed 

 by a fold of the skin of the abdomen, and it is held so fast 



