1881.] MR. E. L. LAYARD ON CCELIAXIS LAYARDI. 839 



5. Note on Pycnoptilus floccosus, Gould. 

 By E. P. Kamsay, C.M.Z.S. 



[Keceived August 2, 1881.] 



The true habitat of the rare bird named Pycnoptilus floccosus by 

 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 Murrurabidgee 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 : — 



inches. inches. 



Total length G 6 



Wing 2-.55 2-45 



Tail 3 2-9 



Tarsus 1-1 M 



Bill from forehead 07 07 



Bill from gape 075 073 



The occurrence oiPachycephala 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 Cceliaxis 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 SuhuUna (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 '■' caiidida." 



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 speci- 

 mens of this rem.irkable shell from under the sand, beneath the 

 bu'-hes 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. My sudden 



