174 NATURAL SCIENCE. September. 



learnt, during a visit to Ultima Esperanza, which is but i° farther 

 north, that a scorpion, apparently of the same species, was not rare 

 there. It seems to me strange that I have never heard or read of the 

 occurrence of myriapods so far south from naturalists who preceded 

 me in this country, as I observed a species, probably a Lithobiid, at 

 almost every place where I landed — along the eastern and western 

 Patagonian coast from Santa Cruz and Ultima Esperanza to the 

 Strait, at Punta Arenas, in Tierra del Fuego (both in the pampas and 

 in the forests), and in the southern archipelago as far south as 

 Tekenika, some miles north of Cape Horn. 



Again, among vertebrates I should like to call attention to the 

 singular distribution of a lizard, doubtless identical with Ptygoderus 

 pcctinatus, Dum. and Bibr. { = ProdotreUis magellanicus, Hombr. and 

 Jacquin.). Darwin remarks that no reptiles have been found at Tierra 

 del Fuego, though they may exist, he says, as far south as the Strait 

 of Magellan. Indeed, even Hombron and Jacquinet mention in their 

 ■" Voyage au Pole Sud," Zoologie, t. iii., p. 6, the occurrence of a small 

 lizard at Peckett Harbour, on the northern shore of the Strait. 

 Cunningham procured specimens of the same species at Rio Gallegos 

 and many other places in eastern Patagonia, and afterwards observed 

 it for the first time at Philip Bay, on the northern coast of Tierra del 

 Fuego. I myself found it fairly often along the northern and eastern 

 coasts of this great island within the pampas region, and secured two 

 specimens as far south as Rio "Grande, lat. 53° 50' S., the most 

 southerly spot on the globe where reptiles are as yet known. Darwin, 

 in fact, advanced the entire absence of reptiles south of the Strait as 

 an argument in favour of his theory that the Strait was to be regarded 

 as the distinct boundary between two entirely different faunas, and 

 that Tierra del Fuego had no, or very few, species of insects, spiders, 

 and other terrestrial animals occurring in Patagonia. In regard to 

 insects, especially Coleoptera, it is mainly by the examination of the 

 valuable collections brought back by the French " Mission scientifique 

 du Cap Horn, 1882-83," that Darwin's view is proved erroneous. The 

 observations of Cunningham and of myself also contradict his view as 

 to the distribution of reptiles. Although the lizard referred to above 

 evidently belongs to the pampas, it occurs as far west as Punta 

 Arenas, where Cunningham found a specimen, though I was not 

 successful in my search for it. 



Another striking example of the tendency of pampas animals to 

 go farther west towards the forests is the armadillo. During my stay 

 at Punta Arenas, in February, a specimen was found for the first 

 time, walking con toda tyanquillidade through the main street of this 

 town ; however, as it was killed and thrown away before I had a 

 chance to examine it, I cannot say to what species it belonged. At 

 Santa Cruz and Rio Gallegos armadillos are said to be rather abundant. 



Here I may remark that on several December evenings I 

 observed a bat flying round among the old and hollow beeches on the 



