501 



NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN SHIPWORMS. 



By C. Hedley, F.L.S. 



(Plate XXXII.) 



(Communicated by pennissiou of tJie Trnstees of the Au>>traUaii 

 Ahtseum.) 



By the good offices of Dr. Stirling, C.M.G., F.R.S., Director, 

 and of Mr. Bednall, Hon. Cvirator in Conchology of the Public 

 Museum, Adelaide, the Australian Museum has recently received 

 from that Institution a fine series of Teredo, under the name of 

 2\ frngiUs, Tate, taken mining eucalypt wharf piles at Port 

 Adelaide, South Australia. 



An appeal as to its identity with T. fragilis to the author of 

 that species is impracticable, since, as these lines are being penned. 

 Prof. Tate is engaged in exploring the MacDonnell Ranges in 

 Central Australia, and therefore inaccessible to letters. 



Should other discrepancies between the specimens before me 

 and the figures and description of T. fragilis (Trans. Roy. Soc. S. 

 Australia, 1888, p. 60, PL xi. figs. 13a., 136, 13c) be explained as 

 relating to an immature stage, yet the palette figured by Prof. Tate 

 cannot be reconciled with that to which I now draw attention. 



Of these specimens I therefore ofifer the following description 

 under the name of 



Teredo edax, n.sp. 



Valves in natural contact globose. Shell white under an 

 epidermis which anteriorly is thin, membranaceous, glossy and 

 olive-yellow, but posteriorly coarse, brown, dull, brittle and easily 

 shredding off in patches. Sculpture: parallel to its margin the 



