NOTES. 407 
evidently been wrongly classified. They appeared to be some 
species of Hypolais. I sent them home to Mr. E. C. Stuart 
Baker, who has kindly authenticated them as Hypolais caligata, 
This species breeds in Turkestan and Southern Siberia, winter- 
ing in Northern and Central India, and seldom penetrating to 
the very south of the peninsula. No member of the genus has 
hitherto been recorded from Ceylon. Both specimens were, 
I believe, obtained by the Museum collector in the Mannar 
District on the same day: February 15, 1905, one near 
Mannar and one at Murungan, 14 miles south-east of that 
town. From the distance apart of the two localities it would 
seem as if there had been a small invasion of this species at 
that time. 
August 23, 1920. W. EB. WALT. 
Preliminary Note on some Fossiliferous Beds in Ceylon.—It 
has long been known that fossil shells occur in the Jaffna 
peninsula and neighbouring parts of Ceylon ; but, until quite 
recently, no serious attempt was made to determine the age of 
the beds and to correlate them with any similar beds which 
may occur in India and elsewhere. . 
On various occasions during the last two years of research 
in the Island (1914-1916), as Assistant Mineral Surveyor, the 
writer had occasion to study these, and other sedimentary beds, 
discovered during that time, and to make a collection of 
fossils, which Dr. Arthur Morley Davies, Palzeontologist at the 
Imperial College of Science and Technology, has kindly under- 
taken to describe. Dr. Davies’ army work arising out of the 
great war has prevented him, until quite recently, from paying 
as much attention to his paleontological labours as he could 
have wished ; thus, the description of the Ceylon fossils is 
of necessity belated. Enough has been done, however, to 
justify certain general conclusions. These will be set down 
below. 
Apart from the generally known occurrences of fossiliferous 
beds in Jaffna and Kalpentyn, others of similar age were 
discovered in the interior of the Puttalam District and along 
