300 Miscellaneous. 



species, I should have considered it identical with Euplectes erythrops, 

 Ilartl., with which I am not acquainted in nature, hut which is de- 

 scribed and figured with care in the second volume of the ' Ahhand- 

 lungcn' of the Natural History Society of Ilamhurg, 1852. This 

 bird has only a little red round the base of the bill and above the 

 eyes, whilst the new species has the whole of the head of a fine uni- 

 form blood-red, and the throat and front of the neck are spotted with 

 red and black. 



Nor is it likely that the difference between these birds is sexual, 

 as Ilartlaub gives descriptions of both sexes of his E. erythrops, and 

 states that the female is yellow where the male is red. 



6. Chrysomitris xanthogastra. Mas. C. nigerrima subniteiis ; 

 speculo lato alarum, rectricum basi, exceptis duabus intermediis, et 

 abdomine cum hy})ochoudriis et crisso aureo-flavis. Rostro cseru- 

 lescenti-nigro ; pedibus brunneo-nigris. 



Total length 9 centim. (about 3^ inches). 



Hub. Ocaiia, New Granada. 



This IS one of the smallest species of the genus. In its colour it 

 resembles the Carduelis atratus, D'Orb., but thflfers in its size, which 

 is about one-fourth less. — Bull, cle V Acad. Roy. de Belyique, xxii. 

 p. 150-152, 1855. 



The Operculum q/*Diplommatina. By Capt. Thomas Button. 



The operculum oi Diplommatina follicidtis having been overlooked, 

 from its small size and hidden position, in the original description, 

 Mr. Benson was inclined to doubt its existence, but afterwards cor- 

 rected his former opinion. Captain Ilutton formerly believed it 

 might be a clausium, attached to the shell by an elastic ligament : 

 he has recently most kindly written me a note, in which occurs 

 the following passage, setting this question at rest : " Having placed 

 my specimens upon some wet and withered oak leaves (Q. incana), 

 which the animal prefers to anything else, I waited, magnifier in 

 hand, to decide the knotty point of operculum or no operculum, 

 and lo ! when the animal came forth, I saw the little shield-like oper- 

 culum carried horizontally upon the back of the animal, and not 

 attached to the shell. "When the animal is just coming out of the 

 shell, the apjjcndage is plain with the aid of a glass, but not so easily 

 seen when in full motion, as it lies upon the back of the animal, just 

 under the shell, and is thus in a measure hidden." — J. E. Gray. 



Note on the Aphyllanthcs monspeliensis, and the new Family of the 

 Aphyllanthacese. By M. Parlatore. 



The Aphyllanthcs monspeliensis is a plant which has the aspect of 

 a little rush, or rather that of the Dianthus prolifcr ; it grows abun- 

 dantly in the stony, sterile i)arts of the basin of the Mediterranean, 

 hi the south of France as far as Nice, in Spain, Portugal and Algeria. 

 This plant was first described and figured by IVna and Lobel, who 

 did not fail to notice a certain resemblance between its flowers and 



