THE ECONOMIC MOLLUSCA OF ACADIA. 113 



texture are the best, for they take the oil better. Creosote 

 has the advantage also of preserving timbers not only from 

 'Teredo, but from other destructive agencies, for it is a good 

 antiseptic. 



This method has been tried and found good in our own 

 waters, as the following passage from Mr. Murphy's paper 

 proves. Speaking of Sidney harbor. Cape Breton, he says: 

 "Here the Teredo is seemingly as destructive, if not more so, 

 than at any point on our coast, and here, about ten years ago, 

 a coal-loading pier was erected, suflSciently large that three 

 ocean-going steamers could load coal at the same time. The 

 pier runs out into the harbor. It was erected entirely of pine 

 trunks, creosoted in Great Britain, and sent out here. It has 

 -most effectively withstood the ravages of the Teredo, whilst 

 -all other piles in the neighborhood had to be renewed twice." 

 Mr. Murphy points out the desirability of the establishment 

 of a creosoting apparatus in Nova Scotia, and of a careful 

 study of means of overcoming the Lirnnoria lignoricm. 



There are other methods of protecting marine works from 

 Teredo which have their value. A timber completely sheathed 

 with metal is safe ; hence copper-bottomed ships are not 

 troubled. Docks and wharves have been sheathed with 

 different metals, but these are eflQcacious only so long as the 

 surface is unbroken. Accident, the action of the water on 

 the plates, etc., will not, however, as a rule, long permit this. 

 A modification of this method consists in covering the timber 

 with short iron naills having square, flat heads. But these 

 must be placed close together, with their edges touching, and 

 this is very expensive. In the American Naturalist, Vol. XVI. 

 1882, p. 967, another method is described as follows: "His 

 machinery cuts out a cylinder two inches thick from between 

 the core and the outside of a log, and of any desired caliber. 

 By retaining the core and filling the cylindrical excavation 

 around it with a special cement, it is thought that the 

 ravages of the Teredo could be confined to the outer part 

 of a pile so treated, and the core, which is expected to sustain 

 the needed weight, would be protected by the cement, which 

 in its turn would be preserved from friction by the outer 



