93 



These fossils were at one time supposed to be the fossil remains of 

 earthworms: a supposition not now requiring to be further noticed. I 

 do not know a more appropriate place to dispose of the fossils repre- 

 sented Plate VI. Fig. 12 and 13, than under this genus. These vermi- 

 culites are found in the fissile stone of Pappenheim and Gunsterhausen ; 

 and have, I believe, no recent prototype. In some, as in Fig. 12, the 

 covering itself of the animal is left, intertwined in a remarkably tor- 

 tuous manner. In others, as in Fig. 13, the impression only is left. 

 Bodies of a similar kind are sometimes formed on the Veronese fossils. 

 Similar bodies are sometimes found in the Devonshire Whetstone ; but 

 less contorted, and laid more lengthwise. Plate VII. Fig. 2. 



LXX. Serpula. A tubular adherent univalve, variously twisted or 

 grouped, and sometimes divided by entire septa. 



The definition which I have here adopted for this genus, and which is the 

 Linnsean, with the addition of the form of the shell, will for the present 

 comprise several shells, which, as has been already observed, may, .when 

 more fully known, be found worthy of forming distinct genera. I 



The common small tortuous and intertwined serpulae, S. glomerata, 

 are very frequently found amongst, and attached to, the fossils of this 

 and of other countries. Several different varieties; or perhaps species, 

 of these shells, result from the different external forms which they 

 derive from the longitudinal or oblique rugae which exist on their sur- 

 faces. Hence their external figure is trihedral, tetrahedral, and even 

 hexahedral, according to the number of these rugae. Plate VII.' Fig. 1, 

 represents a portion of a trihedral serpula, and the polished slab. 

 Plate VII. Fig. , shows the appearance produced by a section, chiefly 

 in the transverse direction of the shells of a species which is outwardly 

 tetrahedral. 



The serpulite, Plate VII. Fig. 5, seerns to merit the term columnar. 

 It is formed by a very small tube, disposed in contiguous turns, placed 

 one on another, in nearly a horizontal direction, so as to constitute a 

 small columniforrn body. The last and upper turn of the shell is 



