PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. es Ti 
fined to Astacopsis tasmanicus and its gigantic ally of the nor- 
thern rivers of Tasmania, A. Franklini. I have searched in 
vain for it in large numbers of the New Zealand Paranephrops, 
and of Astacopsis serratus and A. bicarinatus from various parts 
of New South Wales. 
12.--THE MARINE WOOD-BORERS OF AUSTRALASIA 
AND THEIR WORK.* 
By Cuaries Heptey, F.LS., Conchologist to the Australian 
Museum. 
(Plates VII. to X.) 
Preface ; Crustacea; Mollusca—General Aspect—Propaga- 
tion—Boring—As an Esculent—Natural Enemies—Classifica- 
tion; Ravages; Remedies; Summary. 
As a professional naturalist I have been frequently asked for 
information on the ship-worm, locally called the cobra. What 
little is known of the subject is scattered in literature, and diffi- 
cult of access. Many widely-circulated statements are also 
erroneous. It therefore seemed to me that a summary of present 
knowledge, designed rather for the engineer and general student 
than for the systematical zoologist, would be a useful work. For 
references to engineering and to crustacean literature I am in- 
debted to Mr. G. H. Halligan and to Mr. T. Whitelegge respec- 
tively. : 
The subject before us may be suitably considered under the 
following heads :—-What these pests are; How they work; and 
How their ravages may be remedied. 
Two Classes of the Animal Kingdom have produced enemies 
to submerged timber, the Crustacea and the Mollusca. 
THE CRUSTACEA. 
The people of Europe and North America suffer from the 
attacks of two species of boring Crustacea—Limnoria lignorum 
and Chelura terebrans. Neither of these have as yet been re- 
ported by naturalists from Australasian seas. Our fauna is, 
however, still so imperfectly known that it is possible that they 
or kindred destructive species may be indigenous, but have, so 
far, escaped detection, or they may at some future date be acci- 
dentally introduced.+ It is, therefore, worth directing attention 
* On the Report of Section H, a committee was appointed by the Brisbane meeting 
(Report Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vi., 1895, p. xix) to ‘‘inquire into the habits of the teredo 
and the best means of preserving timber or structures subject to their action in tidal 
Mien It is hoped that this essay may be acceptable as an informal report on the 
subject. 
_.t Footnote, 14/6/1901.—What I forecast has now happened. Mr. T. Whitelegge has 
identified LZ. lionorum in timber from a floating jetty at Circular Quay, and again from 
part of the hull of a ferry boat plying in Sydney Harbour. 
