202 
Notes and Comments. 
the Club Mr. A. F. Griffith * exhibited two examples of the 
Black-headed Bunting, which were believed to have been 
taken in a wild state in the British Isles. I. — Black-headed 
Bunting ( Emberiza melanocephala). An adult male caught 
in mature plumage near Halifax, December, 1910. James 
Hamilton, of Hopwood Lane, Halifax, secured the bird and 
sold it a few days afterwards for five shillings to Major Johnson, 
of Melrose House, Hove, Sussex. The last-named gentleman 
kept it alive in his aviaries till the 31st of May, 1912, when it 
was killed by a “ Clodbird ” (Emberiza calandra). The 
specimen had been presented to the Booth Museum, Brighton.’ 
The second specimen had also been presented to the Booth 
Museum. It was reported to have been shot at Battle, Sussex, 
in April, 1912, and went through a well-known shop in St. 
Leonard’s. It was also a male. We are sorry that our York- 
shire bird should be associated with a Sussex example in this 
way, as it makes us feel all the more that both are most likely 
escapes and can hardly be looked upon as satisfactory additions 
to our avi-fauna. 
A NEW SHELL. ' 
In La Feuille des Jeunes N aturalistes for May, Colonel H. 
Martel gives a description of a new mollusc, which in the 
heading he refers to as Lacuna ( Epheria ) cancavennensis, 
whereas under the figure of the specimen he gives the specific 
name as Lacuna ( Ephiria ) cancavenninsis. Zoologists will be 
glad to know which are really the correct names of this new 
species. 
THE CARLISLE-SOLWAY BASIN. 
At a recent meeting of the London Geological Society, 
Prof. J. W. Gregory pointed out that the Carlisle-Solway 
basin has been generally represented as a syncline, with the 
Solway resting on a great thickness of Triassic rocks. A 
boring made near Gretna in 1794 shows, on the contrary, that 
Lower Carboniferous rocks crop out there at the surface. This 
boring shows that the basin is not a simple syncline. The 
evidence derived from the boring necessitates reconsideration 
of the Permo-Triassic sequence in North Cumberland, as to 
which the Geological Survey maps and memoirs are not in 
agreement. According to Mr. Holmes’s view, expressed in 
the memoir, there are two series of Gypseous Shales, one above 
and the other below the St. Bees Sandstone. According to 
the classification adopted on the maps, there is only one 
horizon of Gypseous Shales, which is below the St. Bees Sand- 
stone. Mr. Holmes’s case rests on the identification of the rock 
at the bottom of the Abbeytown boring as St. Bees Sandstone. 
If that rock be accepted as the Penrith Sandstone, it is un- 
necessary to assume two series of Gypseous Shales. Argu- 
Naturalist, 
