178 TEREDINID^. 



Habitat : Submerged woodwork at Wick (Peach); 

 fir wood at Lerwick and the Whalsev Skerries, Shet- 

 land;, in the first case composing the timbers of a sunken 

 vessel, in the other the supports of a shipping-stage 

 used in one of the fishing-stations there ; and also in 

 the hull of a small craft , lying at anchor in the Sker- 

 ries Sound, and employed by the Commissioners of 

 Northern Lighthouses on service between that place 

 and Lerwick (J. G. J.). These are the only cases in 

 which, to my knowledge, the present species of Teredo 

 can be said to be a true native of the British seas. It 

 is not unfrequently found in floating trees and pieces 

 of fir cast ashore on the east and north of the Shetland 

 Isles, after a continuance of easterly winds (having 

 been drifted from the opposite coasts of Norway); 

 in pieces of Canada timber, which apparently have 

 been transported by the Gulf-stream, aided by a succes- 

 sion of westerly gales, especially during each equinox, 

 on various parts of our shores including the Channel 

 Isles, Sussex, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Bristol Channel, 

 Galway, Waterford, Dublin, Antrim, Arran (in Scot- 

 land) , Scarborough, and Aberdeenshire ; in a piece of 

 oak thrown ashore in Cornwall (Couch) ; in the knee- 

 timber of a vessel stranded at Lulworth (J. G. J.) ; and 

 in teak, as well as in deal, at Guernsey (Lukis) . The first 

 variety only occurs in drift wood; Mr. Dennis found 

 some of a much smaller size than usual in a bamboo on 

 the Sussex coast. The second variety is also imported 

 from distant shores, and can scarcely be considered 

 British. The third may be referred to the same cate- 

 gory. Dr. Lukis noticed it at Guernsey, and Mr. 

 Dennis on the Sussex coast, in fir timber ; and a re- 

 markably stunted and minute form, in pieces of cork 

 (having been evidently once the net-floats of fishermen) , 



