[From the California Horticulturist and Floral Magazine, for Blay, 1873.] 



eem;^rk:s 



XYLOPHAGOUS ]\rARINE ANIMALS, 



OR MARINE ANIMALS WHICH DESTROY WOOD. 



BY R. E. C. STEARNS. 



At a recent meeting of the California 

 Acaclemy of Sciences, Dr. Hewston 

 submitted sjDecimens of a species of 

 crustacean recently detected in de- 

 stroying the piling on the water-front 

 of this city, and which it is quite likely 

 is an introduced species, and belongs 

 or is related to Limnoria or Chelitra. A 

 species of the first has for a long time 

 been the source of much expense in 

 various parts of Great Britain, by the 

 damage it causes to the wharf and dock 

 structures of that kingdom. 



Mr. Arnold, Civil Engineer, of this 

 city, also exhibited at the same meet- 

 ing a portion of a pile destroyed by the 

 crustacean referred to, as w^ell as by 

 the ship -worm; the ravages of both, 

 and their method of operating uj^on the 

 wood, were well illustrated in the speci- 

 men submitted. 



There are several species of xylopha- 

 gous or wood- eating marine animals 

 belonging to the Mollusca and Crusta- 

 cea; included in the former are Tere- 

 dines {TeredinirKx) which form a sub- 

 family of the Pholades (Family Phola- 

 didce), and which derive their name 



from the Greek word Pholeo — to bore. 

 The Pholades proper are found in 

 almost every sea, and live in the calca- 

 reous rocks and sandstones, as well as 

 in clay and sand, in which they bore 

 their burrows, and specimens are fre- 

 quently found in some of the harder 

 rock around the Cliff House, near this 

 city. One genus, '^Xi/lophaga, is found 

 boring in floating wood, usually form- 

 ing burrows across the grain about an 

 inch deep, which are oval and lined 

 with shell."* 



Of the ship-worms {Teredinina;) over 

 twenty are knov>'n, and while most of 

 the species in the order in which they 

 are placed, as above mentioned, burrow 

 in harder materials, these confine their 

 labors to wood, boring longitudinally 

 or with the grain, and seldom if ever 

 boring into the burrows of their neigh- 

 bors. The Teredines are divided into 

 three groups. First, Teredo; second, 

 Xylotrya; third, Uperotis. The shell 

 and tube in the sub-genus Xylotrya are 

 the same as in the genus Teredo; but 



Adams' Genera, Vol. II, p. 327. 



