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The animal thus described by Pigafetta is the Guanaco, Camelus huanacus, and it is not astonishing to find it represented on the Australian continent, for we know* that this continent was supposed to be connected with Tierra del Fuego and was sometimes called Magellanica, in consequence.
Such is especially the case with a hybrid between Anemone magellanica and the common Anemone sylvestris. Starting from similar considerations Kerner von Marilaun pointed out the fact long ago that many so-called species, of rare occurrence, standing between two allied types, may be considered to have originated by a cross.
A more interesting animal is the Ctenomys magellanica, a little less than the rat in size, with a shorter tail, pale grey fur, and red incisors. It is called tuco-tuco from its voice, and oculto from its habits; for it is a dweller underground, and requires a loose, sandy soil in which, like the mole, it may swim beneath the surface.
Lubec, 1652. 4to. Graaf, Reisen naer Asia, Africa, America, en Europa. Amsterdam, 1686. 8vo. Historia y Viage del Mundo en los cincos Partes; de la Europa, Africa, Asia, America y Magellanica. Par Levallos. Madrid, 1691. 4to. John Ovington's Voyage to Surat, with a Description of the Islands of Madeira and St. Helena. London, 1698. 8vo. Le Bruyn's Voyage to the Levant. Translated from the French.
This was the bird called "goldfinch" by the English resident in La Plata, and to the Spanish it is also goldfinch; it is, however, a siskin, Chrysomitris magellanica, and has a velvet-black head, the rest of its plumage being black, green, and shining yellow.
The Magellanica is evidently the typical circumpolar fauna; and even Kerguelen Island is much more akin to Magellanica than to Africa or New Zealand. I should expect Tristan to be the same, though it has a distinctly European element in Balea." Easter Sunday. Very few elders were at either morning or afternoon service, only two or three of the regular ones.
In Harris's "Voyages" there is a map giving "Cowley's Inchanted Isl." The passage quoted by Melville is not to be found in Cowley's "Voyage to Magellanica and Polynesia," given by Harris in the same volume, and must be taken from Cowley's "Voyage round the Globe," which I have not found in any library.
In acknowledging their receipt the Professor writes: "The conical ones are no doubt Siphonaria Lessoni, a species found all round the south end of South America; and the 'scaly' one is Magellanic Chiton." And again: "You will note the connection with Magellanica.
On the west side Chili is bounded throughout its whole extent by the shores of the Pacific Ocean; and on the south it joins with the southern land usually called the Terra Magellanica, from the name of the navigator, Magellan or Magelhaens, who first circumnavigated the continent of South America, and opened the way by sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, through the Straits which are still known by his name.
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