murphy; PEXOriXS OF SOUTH GKORGIA. II3 
sexual difference in the color of the shield is not borne out b\- my 
observations, nor by my sjiecimens. in which the bills of mature females 
are quite as richly colored as those of males. In one adult male, Xo. 
iSoi, Feb. I, 1913, the shields are flaking off. 
The color of the reticulated iris is raw umber. The \tu\n\ is sqiiair 
when contracted : when dilated it takes a polygonal shape, like an " iris " 
diaphragm of a photographic lens. In life, the prominent nictitating 
membrane is frequently drawn over the eye. 
The auricular-patches of mature birds are cadmium yellow ; at the 
front of the neck, where the branches are confluent, the color becomes 
orange. The posterior edge of the patch, where it joins the bluish tone 
of the hind neck, is distinctly green, the blending of the yellow and 
blue producing a solid color on the individual feathers. The concealed 
jjortions of the yellow feathers of the ear-patches are white ; those of the 
feathers on back and brea.st, grayish. The feather-shafts are character- 
i.stically flattened and cur\-ed, with a width as great as 2 mm. Because 
of their external convexity the\- exert a spring-force against the body 
and function as shingles over the down>- aftershafts. The feathers are 
placed equidistant from one another, forming regular, transverse and 
diagonal rows over the whole skin. One, or more often two, filoplumes 
spring from about the base of each feather. The aftershafts are single, 
but in the form of complex tufts. They are attached at the base of the 
inner surface of the flattened quills. b\- which the.\ are matted snugly 
against the body. 
The large eggs of the king penguin are subpyriform, and of a pale 
olive-green color. An egg taken from the oviduct of a dead bird is pure 
white. Soon after being deposited, however, the eggs become so 
])lastered with mud that the original color of the shell is indistinguish- 
able. Measurements in millimeters of six s])ecimens are : loS x 77, 
9<S X 74, 96 X 75, 108 x 76. 101 X 76, 107 X 75. 
Pygoscelis papua (Forsteri. 
I'Xirosa'lis papna Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXVI, p. 631. 
This species, the " gentoo " of the Falkland Islands, is known to 
Engli.sh-si^eaking seafarers as the "johnn},-" ])enguin. We .saw the 
first examples on the .southward voyage in latitude 43° 18' S.. longitude 
41° 10' \V., on November 15, 1912. Cold westerly winds had rai.sed a 
heavy swell on this day, and just before nightfall penguins began to pass 
