366 TEREDO NAVALIS IN NOVA SCOTIA — MURPHY. 
ereat losses are sometimes caused in this way. Complaints of 
such ravages in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
have been made, and they also occur at the Charlestown Navy 
Yard, and in the piles of the wharves at Boston. Probably the 
wharves and other submerged wood-work in all our sea ports, 
from New York northward, are more or less injured by this crea- 
ture, and if it could be accurately estimated, the damage would 
be found surprisingly great. 
“ Unlike the Teredo, this creature is a vegetarian, and eats the 
wood which it excavates, so that its boring operations provide it 
with both food and shelter. The burrows are made by means of 
its stout mandibles or jaws. It is capable of swimming quite 
rapidly, and can leap backward suddenly by means of its tail. 
It can creep both forward and backward. Its legs are short and 
better adapted for moving up and down in its burrow than else- 
where, and its body is rounded, with parallel sides, and well 
adapted to its mode of life. When disturbed it will roll itself 
into a ball. The female carries seven to nine eggs or young in 
the ineubatory pouch at one time. 
“The destructive habits of this species were first brought pro- 
minently to notice in 1811, by the celebrated Robert Stephenson, 
who found it rapidly destroying the wood work at the Bell Rock 
light house, erected by him on the coast of Scotland. Since that 
time it has been investigated, and its ravages have been described 
by numerous European writers. It is very destructive on the 
coasts of Great Britain, where it is known as the “ gribble.” 
If we contrast the destructive powers of the two most remark- 
able wood borers inhabiting our shores we find a great diversity 
in size, form, mode of operation, mode of existence and attack. 
The Teredo, as we find it, is from four to six inches long, andl 
about } to } inch in diameter. The Limnoria is about 1-16 to 
1-8 of an inch in length, and about one half that thickness. The 
Teredo is long and vermitorm; the Limnoria is short and ovate. 
The Teredo bores to make itself a house. The Limnoria bores for 
existence. The Teredo lives on the infusoria of the water: 
the Limnoria on the substance of the wood itself. 
The Teredo attacks from the outside, and penetrates into the 
