1892-93-] The Shipivorm. 65 



who was born in the year 43 B.C. — distinctly referring 



to it : — 



" For as the ship by hidden shipworm spoiled, 

 Or as the rock by briny wavelet mined, 

 Or as the rested sword by rust is soiled, 

 Or book unread, the tiny moths unbind : 

 So gnawed and nibbled, without hope of rest, 

 By cares unceasing, is my tortured breast." 



Upwards of 300 years ago it attracted much attention in 

 Scotland, and many absurd theories were propounded as to its 

 generation, the most absurd being that it was the young of a 

 kind of sea-fowl called klaiks. 



By Linmeus the Teredo was classed among the Termes or 

 Worms ; nor is this to be wondered at. The long worm-shaped 

 body of the creature would naturally suggest the idea ; but 

 Cuvier placed it, as the result of greater knowledge of its 

 organisation, where in all probability it will remain — among 

 the Mollusca, and very closely allied to the better known 

 Pholas. 



The Mollusca constitute one of the great animal sub-king- 

 doms, widely diffused through both time and space, and exhibit 

 so extreme a range of variety in form that it is very difficult, if 

 not impossible, to frame a definition applicable to all of them. 

 Their most prominent organ, the " foot," taken in conjunction 

 with the very general characteristic that their bodies are nearly 

 always of a soft consistence, as the derivation of the term in- 

 dicates, form the only points in their structure with which the 

 great majority coincide. Their bodies are protected by an 

 external calcareous covering or " shell," hence the popular term 

 " shell-fish " applied to them. This is applied indiscriminately, 

 however, both to Crustacea? and Mollusca — to the lobster, for 

 example, as well as the oyster. But the shelly envelope has 

 a totally different character in the two cases. In the crusta- 

 cean the shell is the skin rendered horny or calcareous ; in 

 the mollusc, the shell, being no part properly of the body, is 

 the habitation in which it dwells. When it exists it is not to 

 be regarded as an exo-skeleton, giving attachment to muscles 

 and regulating form, but merely as an appendage designed for 

 the protection of the body, or, as in the case of the Teredo, a 

 direct means whereby the animal derives both protection and 



VOL. III. e 



