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Show 1881.] MR. E. L. LAYARD ON C(ELIAXIS LAYARDI. 839 5. Note on Pycnoptilus floccosus, Gould. By E. P. RAMSAY, C.M.Z.S. [Eeceived August 2, 1881.] The true habitat of the rare bird named Pycnoptilus fioccosus Gould has been somewhat a mystery ever since its discovery ; the belts of the Murray River were always put down as the locality from whence the original specimens came. Some years ago Mr. James Ramsay met with it on the Murrumbidgee River, but only on one occasion. Ornithologists, therefore, may be pleased to hear that the bird is an inhabitant of the coast-ranges near Sydney, New South Wales, whence I have recently seen some beautiful specimens, obtained by Mr. A. J. Thorpe, our skillful taxidermist. These birds were carefully sexed ; but the sexes show no difference in the plumage. A pair measure as follows :- 6 2 inches. inches. Total length 6 6 Wing 2*55 2*45 Tail 3 2*9 Tarsus 1*1 1-1 Bill from forehead 0*7 0*7 Bill from gape 0*75 0*73 The occurrence of Pachycephala olivacea, Glycyphila albifrons, and Campephaga jardinii within a few miles of Sydney is also worth recording. Australian Museum, Sydney, May 27, 1881. 6. Note on Cce.liaxis layardi, Angas. By E. L. LAYARD, F.Z.S. [Received August 3, 1881.] Some years ago Mr. G. F. Angas described, in the ' Proceedings' of this Society (P. Z. S. 1865 p. 54), a curious shell sent to him by me, under the name of Subulina (Cceliaxis) layardi, of which the onlv specimens known were dead decorticated examples found on the sand-hills around East London, at the mouth of the Buffalo River, in the Cape colony. Mr. Angas, therefore, in his diagnosis, described it as " Candida." In 1870 I visited the Eastern province and the neighbourhood whence this shell had been procured, and, aided by my kind friend Thomas Holden Bowker, Esq., soon unearthed the first living specimens of this remarkable shell from under the sand, beneath the bushes in the neighbourhood of his residence at Tharvield. I then found that the colour of the living shell was a pale horny-grey, as was the animal, if my memory does not deceive me. M y sudden |