PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 233 



am not aware of any published notice of its occurrence, althougli Lim- 

 noria lias been known for many years, and its ravages bave often at- 

 tracted attention. I have repeatedly made careful search for Chelura at 

 many different points upon our eastern coast from New Jersey to i^ova 

 Scotia, and have examined many pieces of Teredo- and Limnoria-hored 

 timber from other parts of the coast, but, until 1875, I was not able to 

 discover an individual of the genus. In the summer of that year, while 

 connected with the party of the United States Fish Commission at Woods 

 Holl, ]Massachusetts, two small specimens of Chelura were discovered, 

 associated with Limnoria, in a bit of wood scraped from one of the piles 

 of the government wharf. A careful search was made upon the piles of 

 several wharves in the neighborhood and among the government store 

 of spar buoys, but no more specimens could be discovered, although 

 Limnoria was found in abundance. 



Figure 1. 



-Chelura terebrans ; male ; lateral view, enlarged about 

 twelve diameters. 



Without European specimens for comparison, these two individuals 

 were scarcely sufficient to establish the identity of our species with the 

 common species of Europe ; and I delayed calling attention to tlie subject 

 until more material should be discovered. Xo other specimens came to 

 hand until August of the present year, when Professor 

 Verrill discovered the species in abundance in old 

 submerged piles at Provincetown, Massachusetts. 

 Tiie specimens found by Professor Verrill were all in 

 wood submerged from 8 to 12 feet below the surface 

 at low water, and were associated with Limnoria 

 lignorum and Teredo navalis. The Limnoria occurred 

 only sparingly, however, in this case, though it was 

 found, by Mr. Sanderson Smith, in great abundance, 

 with Teredo navalis, but without Chelura, in water- 

 logged wood dredged the past summer in Cape Cod 

 Bay in 7^ fathoms. The si5ecimens obtained by Pro- 

 fessor Verrill exhibit all the variations due to age and 

 sex, and show plainly that our s])ecies is identical 

 with the European Chelura terebrans. 



The species was first brought to notice by Philippi, 

 who discovered it at Trieste, in company with Teredo 

 navalis, in planks just taken from the sea, and who described and figured 



JSTo. J31 



Figure 2. — Limnoria 

 Hijiioritm; dorsal 

 view, enlarged ten 

 diameters. 



