NOTES AND QUERIES. 351 
Hybrid Finches.—I have lately had the pleasure of examining two 
hybrids, bred in the aviary of Mr. J. H. Verrall, of Lewes, between a male 
Goldfinch and female Linnet. I had not seen this cross before in nestling 
plumage; the upper parts, wings, and tail closely resembled the young 
grey-pated Goldfinch, though the golden wing-bars were of course much 
narrower and less vivid than in Carduelis elegans. The head and breast 
were of a Linnet-brown, and the shape was more that of the Linnet than 
Goldfinch. These nestlings were reared in an outdoor aviary (in which Mr. 
Verrall has bred hybrids between the Twite and Greenfinch, Linnet and 
Greenfinch, &e.). The old Linnet has nested three times this summer.— 
H. A. Macruerson (Carlisle). 
BATRACHIA. 
The distribution of British Batrachians.—I can add a few links to 
the chain of counties mentioned by Mr. Boulenger (p. 267) as inhabited by 
the Palmate Newt—namely, Berkshire, Hampshire, and Surrey ; it is also 
reported from Yorkshire, Norfolk, and Ireland. The Berkshire localities I 
forget; those in Surrey include Tooting and Woking (‘ Science Gossip,’ 1866); 
while in Hants it must be generally distributed, as the late Prof. Bell found 
it at Selborne, and I have myself seen it on the sand at Bournemouth, on the 
Dorsetshire border, and here, in the south-east of the county, where it occurs 
with both common species in clay-pits, but most abundantly, with a very 
small proportion of punctatus, in a warm pond in a chalk-pit. The absence 
of the Common Smooth Newt from Bournemouth seems remarkable. Has 
it been met with on other dry soils? Are the Toad and the Rough Newt 
(both rough-skinned) alike in preferring such localities? I saw in ‘The 
Field’ that the Zoological Society had received a Smooth Snake from Essex, 
last year, Ithink. Is not that a new locality ?—J. E. Kexsaux (Fareham). 
FISHES. 
Basking Shark in Mount’s Bay.—A specimen of Pennant’s Basking 
Shark (the Rashleigh Shark and Broad-headed Gazer of Couch) was 
taken in Mount’s Bay, in a set-net, within twelve fathoms of the base 
of the cliff between Newlyn and Mousehole, on July 26th, measuring ten 
feet one inch in length. I inspected it and had it photographed the following 
day, but the extreme heat of the weather prevented my making any attempt 
to preserve it. I have, however, nothing to add to my description of a 
smaller specimen of the same fish given in ‘'The Zoologist’ for 1870, 
p- 2253. Mr. Clogg, of Looe, writes me that a precisely similar fish was 
taken at Polperro in the first week in June last, and Mr. Gatcombe, of 
Stonehouse, informs me that another was taken at Plymouth some years 
ago. He sends drawings of its peculiar head, which leave no doubt on 
the subject. I do not find that this fish has any specially distinctive name, 
