120 Oatliff find Gabriel: 



to this species. The earlier writers, more particularly those of the 

 British school, discussing and figuring the various parts under the 

 appellation of Teredo navalis. Forbes and Hanley grasped the dis- 

 tinction, minutely describing and illustrating the animal, valves, 

 pallets, and tube. That the species has since been misunderstood is 

 obvious from the following observations. The description of T. ant- 

 arctica, Hutton, leaves no doubt as to its identity with T. nor- 

 vegica, Spengler. Endeavouring to establish T. antarctica, Hutt., 

 Mr. Hedley (loc. cit) figured the type valves and later on illustrated 

 the pallet (after Clessin). Through an unfortunate discrepancy in 

 the text-figure numerals in the Conchylien Cabinet, Mr. Hedley 

 erroneously copied the pallet figure of T. japonica, Clessin, to repre- 

 sent antarctica. Clessin's text-figure numbers of T. antarctica, 

 Hutton, are 11 to 13, while the shell is illustrated by two figures 

 only, 12 and 13, as in the explanation of Plate, figure 11 being the 

 pallet of japonica, and not antarctica. Mr. H. Suter, in his Manual 

 of the New Zealand Mollusca, p. 1021, notes Mr. Hedley's wrongful 

 figure of the pallet of antarctica, and remarks, " is certainly the 

 bipinnate pallet of T. navalis, but not T. antarctica." In this 

 respect we disagree with Mr. Suter. Clessin's figure depicting 

 T. japonica. 



Actual comparison of British examples of T. norvegica in the 

 National Museum, Melbourne, with a specimen kindly identified 

 from the type by the author as being his T. edax, fails to 

 disclose any differentiating characters, and we regard them as abso- 

 lutely synonymous. Closely allied is the British form T . megotara, 

 Hanley, but, as the author remarks, the species may be separated 

 by the pallets being less elongated in the handle, and they taper to 

 a fine point at the apex. In the other they are blunt at the termina- 

 tion and solid throughout. We have examined specimens of 7'. 

 megotara in our museum collection, and notice the distinction. The 

 calcareous tube of T . norvegica exhibits a strong concamerated struc- 

 ture at the posterior extremity, vanishing anteriorly where the 

 tube becomes fragile; these characters showing better development 

 in some cases than in others. The largest burrow we have examined 

 was from the Portsea Pier; it attained a length of two feet six 

 inches, and the large bat-shaped pallet abstracted therefrom mea- 

 sured 28 mm. The size and structure of the tube lend aid as a 

 means <>f identification. 



We wrote to Mr. II. Suter stating that we considered T. c<la,c, 

 Hedley, to he a synonym of T . liriujuit ri , and asked his opinion. 

 He wrote in reply, " 1 think that T. edax, Hedley, is most likely 

 a synonym of T . bruguieri." 



