94 



nee non texlurd, Lepori timido assimilis ; capite hrevmsculo ; 



anlihrachiis j^edibusque parvulis ; caudd brev'uiscutd et gracili ; 



corpore siiperne nigro,fusco etjlavido variegato ; apud latera, et 



circum oculos colore palUdefulvoprcevalente ; abdomine e einereo 



albo ; ai tubus anticis ad banin nigris. 



unc. lin. 

 Longitude ab apice rostri ad caudse basin. ... 19 6 



caudce 13 



tarsi digitorumque 4 9 



ab apice rostri ad basin auris .... 4 



auris 2 



Hah. Interior of Australia. 



Mr. Gould also exhibited a remarkable spiny Lizard, allied to the 

 Agamas, which he had procured from Swan River. 



Mr. Gould then called the attention of the Members to an extra- 

 ordinary piece of Bird-architecture, which he had ascertained to be 

 constructed by the Satin Bird, Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus , and an- 

 other of similar structure, but still larger, by the Chlamydera macu- 

 lata. These constructions, Mr. Gould states, are perfectly anomjdous 

 in the architecture of birds, and consist in a collection of pieces of 

 stick and grass, formed into a bower ; or one of them (that of the 

 Chlamydera) might be called an avenue, being about three feet in 

 length, and seven or eight inches broad inside ; a transverse section, 

 giving the figure of a horse-shoe, the round part downwards. They 

 are used by the birds as a playing-house, or " run," as it is termed, 

 and are used by the males to attract the females. The "run" of 

 the Satin Bird is much smaller, being less than one foot in length, 

 and moreover differs from that just described in being decorated 

 with the highly-coloured feathers of the Parrot tribe ; the Chlamy- 

 dera, on the other hand, collects around its " run " a quantity of 

 stones, shells, bleached bones, etc. ; they are also strewed down the 

 centre within. Mr. Gould spent much time in obser\'ing the habits 

 of those birds, and was fully satisfied that the " runs " were actually 

 formed by them, and constructed for the purposes described. 



Two papers were then read, in which the authors resume the de- 

 scriptions of the Shells collected by H. Cuming, Esq., Corr. Memb., 

 iu the Philippine Islands, who exhibited specimens in illustration of 

 the papers. 



The first of these papers is from W. J. Broderip, Esq. 



BuLiNus Dryas. Bui. testa elongato-ovatd, vix subdiaphand, pe- 

 ristomale inter ruplo, crassiusculo, lata, expanse, subrecurvo ; ni- 

 tide alba vel jlaveseente brunneo castaneove vittutd. 



Var. a, alba, anfractu basali trivittato, vittd superiore et inferiore 

 striis nigro-fuscis ; medid castaned, nonnunquam interruptd. 



This variety is sometimes yellowish, and the three bands on the 

 body-whorl arc nearly uniform chestnut. 



