146 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



may be fortunate enough to find it, and observe a nest also, 

 but it is one of the sombre-plumaged forms that are now 

 seldom seen out of the hills and their unfrequented valleys. 

 25th October and 17 th November are the two only finds — each 

 two eggs — I know of in 1894, without any previous to this time. 



44. Downy Pycnoptilus {Pycnoptilus Jloccosas). 



A cheerful bird in a gloomy gully ! In the course of a few 

 minutes it will give three distinct bars of music, the most 

 familiar and most often uttered being somewhat similar to the 

 name Wan-dil-gong. An examination of the crop of two birds 

 in one district showed it to be powerful and full of seed, 

 which it obtained only in the closest of shrub timber. 



During December and January the bird will incubate, after 

 building upon the ground a structure fac-simile in miniature of 

 the nest of the Menura. 



Before seeking a glimpse of the Pycnoptilus in its haunts you 

 may safely be advised to develop the virtue of patience. 



My remarks have, I find, occupied so much time, that, with 

 your permission, I will reserve the remainder of my notes for a 

 future occasion. 



INTERMEDIATE HOSTS OF FLUKE.-Second Note. 



By Rev. W. Fielder. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 9th March, 1896.) 



The observations referred to below extend from the middle of 

 February to the present date. 



In the last note seven species of snails were alluded to as 

 harbouring fluke embryos, and to these five more must now be 

 added in which embryos have been found, either in the active or 

 encysted condition. The Ballarat district has furnished two 

 hosts in the forms Isidora {Bulinus) alicice, Reeve, var. ticrrita, 

 Tate, and a species of Potomopyrgus ; Warrnambool supplied 

 Amphipeplea papyracea, Tate; Port Fairy, Liynncea Brazieri, 

 Smith. These, together with Amphipeplea Melbournensis, M'Coy, 

 discovered some years ago in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens 

 by Sir Frederick M'Coy, brings the number up to twelve. 



Only a few facts bearing upon the living embryos need now be 

 noticed. It may be interesting, however, to record that one 

 Limnsea of the New South Wales specimens gave cercarise with 

 pigment spots in the region of the anterior sucker, thus con- 

 firming a similar find of this variety as occurring in Planorhis 

 Gilberti, found in the Heidelberg waters. The habitat of the 

 snails is at least 400 miles apart, which testifies to the wide 

 distribution of this species of fluke. Reference was also made 

 last month to a forked-tailed variety as occurring in Planorbis, at 



