THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 195 



them with a good deal of interest, as at that time, when 

 there was no regular service through the Strait, ships were 

 rarities in these regions. We recognised many footprints of 

 Fuegians, as well as of guanacos ; and a small species of lizard, 

 a single example of which had been previously taken at Sandy 

 Point, was rather common, running over the sandy soil, and 

 concealing itself among the stones and scanty herbage. This 

 was the Ptygoderus pectinatus, and I was a good deal interested 

 by finding it in Fuegia, as Mr. Darwin has commented on the 

 entire absence of any species of the class of reptiles from that 

 country, though he remarks that it is not improbable that 

 representatives might be found " as far south as the Strait of 

 Magellan, where the country retains the character of Pata- 

 gonia." ^Vhat appears to be the same species I have since 

 found was obtained by MM. Hombron and Jacquinot in 

 Peckett Harbour, and named by them Proctotretus Magellanv- 

 cus* It is a pretty little creature, of a greenish or dark brown 

 hue above, with in general five white longitudinal lines, with 

 intermediate rows of angular black spots along the back and 

 sides. I afterwards procured it in many localities in eastern 

 Patagonia and Fuegia, discovering it at Port Gallegos, among 

 other places. Though possessed of considerable agility, its 

 movements are not so excessively rapid as those of many of 

 the order to which it belongs, and I was. in consequence able 

 to capture a considerable number of specimens. We saw 

 several specimens of the burrowing owl, one flying about our 

 lieads and uttering its peculiar note as we returned to camp 

 in the dusk, and many broken crania of Ctenomys enveloped 

 in a ball of hair were lying about, bearing evidence as to the 

 nature of their destroyer. I picked up a few plants also, 



* Voijage au Pole Sud- Zoologie, tome troisieme, p. 6 ; Atlas, Kept. Saur, 

 PI. 2, Fig. 2. 



