21G 



DESTROYERS OF SUBMERGED WOOD — MURPHY. 



Lismoiia lignoium 

 Ealai^&i ten diameieM . 



Ficr. 1. 



Photograph of Limnoria and 

 Annelide, 



Fiff. 2. 



The Limnoria is aptly described in Chambers' Encyclopaedia 

 thus : — " It is only about the sixth of an incli in length, of an ash 

 grey color, with black eyes which are composed of numerous 

 ocelli placed close together. The head is broad. The legs are 

 short. The general appearance resembles that of a small wood 

 louse, and the creature rolls itself up in the same manner if 

 seized." 



It is found boring in submerged wood along our coast from 

 Florida to Halifax, N. S., and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It 

 occurs above low water mark, but does not usually live far below 

 that line. It has however been found by Professor Verrill at a 

 depth of ten fathoms in Casco Bay, and was dredged by the 

 United States Fish Commission at a depth of 7^ fathoms in Cape 

 Cod Bay, Mass., in the summer of 1879. It is abundant, accord- 

 ing to European authors, in many localities on the coast of Great 

 Britain and in the North Sea. L. tivciiuita, Heller, from Ver- 

 basca in the Island of Lesina, Adriatic Sea, appears to l)e the 

 same species, as the differences pointed out by Heller do not 

 really exist, but were doubtless suggested by the incorrect figures 

 that have been published representing the uropods with rami 



