ME. J. W. WETHEEELL ON WORM-TRACKS IN LONDON CLAT. 31 



rounding mould. It was white and very short, and apparently 

 consisted entirely of spores arranged in a moniliform manner, like 

 the fertile filaments of a stemless Penicillivm. These spores re- 

 sembled those found in the abdomen of the Bees, and proceeded 

 I think, from them. The filaments were most numerous at the 

 junction of the segments. The spores did not resemble the glo- 

 bules in Sporendonema muscce of the English Flora, neither were 

 they apparently enclosed. 



The E/CV. M. J. Berkeley, to whom I sent some of the bees, pro- 

 cured, by scraping the interior of the abdomen with a lancet, very 

 minute, curved linear bodies from -g-j^^ to '^ q ^ (;, ^ in. long, which 

 he compares to Vibrios. He also found mixed with them globular 

 bodies, but no visible stratum of mould. 



From the peculiar position of the supposed spores within the 

 abdomen of the bees, and from the subsequent growth of a fungus 

 unlike any of our common forms of Mucedines, I think it pro- 

 bable that the death of the bees was occasioned by the presence 

 of a parasitic fungus. 



Notice of the occurrence of recent "Worm Tracks in the Upper 

 Part of the London Clay Formation near Highgate. By 

 John W. "Wetheeell. Communicated by James Yates, 

 Esq., M.A., F.L.S. 



[Read June 3rd, 1858.] 



The London clay is very tenacious, and near the surface is gene- 

 rally of a brown colour, probably owing to the decomposition of 

 the iron pyrites which it contains. It abounds in selenite or 

 sulphate of lime, and in nodules which often contain organic 

 remains. Fossil wood with Teredo antenautce is also met with, 

 and pyritous casts of univalve and bivalve shells. Lower down 

 the stratum becomes more compact and is of a bluish or blackish 

 colour, and its fossil contents are in a fine state of preservation. 

 During the last summer, while examining the London Clay in 

 the vicinity of Highgate in search of fossils, my attention was 

 directed to certain appearances in it which I could not account 

 for. This led to a further examination, when I found they were 

 produced by the borings of Lumhrici or earth-worms. These 

 appearances consisted of long tubes passing nearly perpendicu- 

 larly through the clay and terminating in receptacles or nidi, 

 each tube leading to a separate receptacle. As these receptacles 



