1908 



THE SHIP-WORM 



AND WOOD-BORING CRUSTACEANS 



IN KINGSTOWN HARBOUR. 



BY NATHANIE)!, COI^GAN, M.R.I. A. 



In October last I observed Ijdng on the Carlisle Pier at 

 Kingstown some old wooden piles so much deca3'ed as to be 

 reduced in places from the original dimensions of 13 inches 

 square to a mere shell of an inch in thickness. The whole 

 surface of the piles was closely pitted by small circular per- 

 forations, ranging from the size of a pinhole to -l-inch in 

 diameter, which, at first piercing the wood diagonally, ulti- 

 mately followed the course of the grain as smooth-walled 

 cylindrical tunnels for about half an inch, and ended in hemi- 

 spherical headings. The intricate system of tunnels thus 

 formed penetrated to about a quarter of an inch from the sur- 

 face of the piles, the wood beneath the tunnelled layer being 

 quite sound. On submitting specimens of the wood to Mr. 

 Nichols, of the Dublin Science and Art Museum, he pro- 

 nounced the perforations to be the work of the well-known 

 wood -boring marine crustaceans, Chehira terebra^is and 

 Limnoria lig7ioruvt (the Gribble), several individuals of both 

 species being found in the fragments submitted. Examina- 

 tion of a series of old piles stored in the harbour yard ot 

 Kingstown, and removed, as had been the first piles I 

 observed, from the wooden structures flanking the granite 

 jetty of Carlisle Pier, showed me that the two vSpecies were 

 about equally abundant, though the Gribble, from its smaller 

 size and sober grey colouring, appeared at a first glance to be 

 much less abundant than the larger red-brown Chelura, 

 which is easily detected by the naked eye. The larger 

 specimens measured gave me the following lengths : — 

 Chelura -f^ inch, and Limnoria j% inch. 



These diminutive scourges of the marine engineer may be 

 reckoned amongst the oldest inhabitants of Kingstown 

 Harbour. One of them, Limnoria, was observed at work on 

 the jetty there so early as 1834, or 73 3'ears ago ; both of them 

 were found at the same place in 1842, pursuing their career 



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