, i hai'MAN, No n i Large Specimen of Conus dennanti.[^ c xxxi\ 



of scu-urchins and othei animal forms, reached in many cases 

 their maximum stage oi development. Australia shared in 

 this feast "I fat things, which was spread .it the time over many 

 parts ol the world, and her Miocene marine fauna consequently 

 yields an occasional specimen of gigantic proportions com- 

 pared with similar forms and species from the older and younger 

 rooks of the Tertiary series. 



One such greatly developed lorm. which seems worthy <>| 

 notice, is the shell of a (onus found by Mr. \Y. J. Parr in the Bird 

 Rock Cliffs, Torquay, and lately presented by him to the 

 National Museum. It belongs to Tate's species. Conns 

 dennanti,* a form which shows certain affinities to ('. pullu- 

 It^cc'iis. T. -Woods. It differs from that species in the fiat or 

 even concave spire, a character which remains pretty constant. 

 as well as in the non-angulate or turbinate protoconch, as 

 pointed out by G. F. Harris.t who. by the way. furnishes a good 

 description of this shell. 



The length of the large specimen from the Bird Rock Cliffs 

 is 88 mm., with a width, at the apical end, of 60 mm. 



rhe largesl specimen oi C. dennanti in the Dennanl collection 

 at the National Museum is from the Balcombian of Clifton 

 Bank, Muddy Creek, near Hamilton. Victoria, and measures 

 only 52.5 mm., whilst its greatesl apical width is 35.5 mm. 

 There is a tendency in this cone for the form of the shell to 

 become irregular or even elliptical in cross section, whilst 

 C. pullulescens remains fairly constant in its spiral growth. 



•■ I'm Austral Avian Record." — Three numbers (vol. ii.. 



No-. 5, 6, and 7) of this journal are before us. As usual, the 



principal contents are additions and corrections to the editor's 

 check-lisl ol Australian birds. With the frequenl use of the 

 prefix "Alpha" or the termination "ornis," the editor will 

 -till be able to provide for a few hundred new genera, while the 

 minor differences requiring recognition as sub-species remind 

 one of the results ol a philatelist's perforation gauge. We note 

 that Mathewsia, introduced by Mr. I. fredale foi Antigone, lias 

 been altered to Mathewsena, owing to priority oi somewhal 

 similar names. In a shorl article on the genus Fregata, oi 

 which only two species are admitted in tin- "British Museum 

 ilogue ol Birds," vol. xxvi., Mr. Mathews has managed to 

 name one new spe< ies and about hall a dozen sub-species, besides 

 altering the spe< ific name of /•". aquila to /\ minor. 



•Tate, K., Trans. W. Soc. S. Vustr. ' vol. xiii. on pi. xi., bu1 



apparently issued with vol. xv., 1892), pi. xi.. fig. 7 (name, withoul 

 description). 



1 < l1 I'M: 'i- Molhi 1 ' Bril Mus. pari 1. Vustrala ia, [897, p. 53, 

 pl. 11.. figs, 



