10 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



books and papers. Comparisons and correlations will also be 

 made in each case, between the fauna under discussion and 

 those in other localities. 



In the present paper the fauna of the Vermicular Sandstone 

 in the neighborhood of Northview, Webster County, Missouri, 

 is described. This formation was so named by Swallow* in 

 1855, because of the innumerable worm burrows penetrating 

 it in every direction. In the southwestern part of Missouri, 

 in Green, Webster and Polk counties, the formation is very 

 constant in its lithologic characters, and obtains a thickness 

 of about 25 feet. It is a buff-colored, fine-grained sandstone, 

 sometimes changing to a bluish color. The worm burrows by 

 which the rock is penetrated throughout, are filled with less 

 indurated material usually a little more highly-colored than 

 the rock itself. The weathered surfaces of the formation can 

 always be recognized with the greatest ease, because of these 

 burrows whose soft filling is easily removed on exposure, 

 leaving the tortuous passages clearly visible (see figure 1, 

 plate VI). The formation is underlaid by a soft bluish clay 

 shale, which easily disintegrates from beneath the sandstone; 

 and because of this it is not usual to find the Vermicular 

 Sandstone forming out-cropping ledges to any great extent. 

 The slopes where the shales and sandstones both occur are 

 usually covered with broken masses of the latter, which have 

 slidden down from above. 



The formation is usually almost wholly barren of organic 

 remains except the worm burrows and a species of 8pirophy- 

 ton. From among all the localities examined in Green, Polk 

 and Webster counties, only at Northview have fossils been 

 found abundantly. The fossils described in the present paper 

 were all collected within the square mile of territory lying 

 directly south of Northview. Some of the specimens were 

 secured from the foundation of an old mill, in blocks of sand- 

 stone which originally came from a nearby abandoned quarry, 

 and most of these specimens have been changed to a bright 

 red color by the heat of the fire which destroyed the mill. 



The manner of preservation of the fossils at Northview is 

 rather peculiar. In not a single instance has a calcareous 



* First and Second Ann. Repts. Geol. Surv. Mo. 103 (1855;. 



