444 Mr. A. Hancock on Vermiform Fossils. 



1st vol. of the 'Naturalist,' in which the nature of these curious 

 fossils is discussed, and the conclusion arrived at that they are 

 worms, though to what order they belong is not determined. 

 Mr. Wood, however, no longer entertains this opinion. In a 

 letter which I had the pleasure of receiving from him a short 

 time ago, he states that these fossils " are assuredly the track- 

 tube or burrow of some creature, and probably, as you say, of 

 a crustacean." And in the same communication Mr. Wood 

 further says, " I sent a specimen to the Museum in Jermyn 

 Street, and the lamented Edward Forbes had it marked ' Casts 

 of Annelidc-tubes,' and it is so marked still.'' 



Shortly after the appearance of Mr. Wood's communications 

 in the ' Naturalist,' Mr. John Dixon gave an account in the same 

 journal of what he supposed to be another species of fossil worm, 

 procured in the flagstone beds of Pateley-Bridge, Yorkshire, " a 

 deposit similar in general composition to those of Wensleydale." 



More recently, Mr. Howse has obtained from Weardale similar 

 fossils; and I am indebted to that gentleman for the loan of 

 several interesting specimens, both from that locality and from 

 Haltwhistle. 



As far as I have been able to ascertain, the papers above 

 referred to contain all the information that has been published 

 on these worm-like fossils of the Carboniferous system ; but the 

 prevailing opinion appears to be that they are the remains of 

 worms, or are the casts of worm-tracks; and indeed, at first 

 sight, their general appearance would seem fairly to justify such 

 a conclusion. On careful inquiry, however, it appears to be un- 

 tenable ; and there is good reason for believing that they are the 

 runs or tracks of crustaceans. 



Some years ago, whilst walking along the beach at Cullercoats, 

 my attention was arrested by some track-like markings on the 

 sand, which resembled most remarkably these so-called fossil 

 worms. So striking was the similarity, that I at once commenced 

 an examination of them, in the hoj)c that they might throw some 

 liglit upon these enigmatical fossils ; and I soon satisfied myself 

 that the tracks on the beach, at all events, were in no way con- 

 nected with worms, though, at the time, I entirely failed to 

 ascertain how and by what they were produced. I then lost 

 sight of the subject ; and it was not until the autumn of last 

 year, during a lengthened sojourn on the Durham coast, that 

 my attention was again directed to these beach- markings. On 

 this occasion I found them in great profusion on the Whitburn 

 Sands, and in every respect similar to those previously observed 

 at Cullercoats. They are, in fact, to be found on every sandy 

 shore in the neighbourhood of the Tyne and Wear, occurring 

 very abundimtly on the sands at Tyueruouth, Wliitlcy, South 



