TEREDO NAVALIS AND OTHER SEA-WORMS. I99 



quantity, or to incomplete seasoning of the wood before 

 treatment. 



M. Henry agrees with Mr Howell Smith, the American writer, 

 in thinking that soft woods, or species having wide sapwood, 

 will resist attack the longest, and he advocates the making of 

 experiments to prove this. He suggests that poplar, beech, and 

 silver fir, all of which, he says, become impregnated to the 

 centre, will, on simple immersion in heated carbolineum, 

 contained in an open vessel, remain immune from attack for a 

 very long time.' 



Experiments have been undertaken to determine the actual 

 value, in this connection, of certain antiseptic substances. 

 M. Henry has seen two pieces of silver fir, taken from piles 

 driven in the port of Pola, in March 1901, and withdrawn in 

 November of the same year. One of the piles had previously 

 been twice coated with Carbolineum Avenarius (Sotor), made 

 by the firm Avenarius; the other was untreated. After six 

 months in the Adriatic, the treated pile was found to be intact, 

 while the other was riddled by galleries of the Teredo, which 

 occupied one half of the transverse section, and the original 

 outer surface of the pile had been destroyed. 



Blocks of oak, pitchpine and poplar, some untreated and 

 others coated with Sotor, were immersed at Heyst-sur-Mer, and 

 withdrawn a year later; the treated blocks were uninjured, 

 while the others had been damaged by Teredo. 



In regard to the efficacy of Sotor, M. Coomans, Marine 

 Engineer for Zeeland, writes: — "In the summer of 1904, we 

 attached to the landing pier at Catsche Veer, at a depth of 

 70 centimetres (27^ inches) below the level of low tide, two pieces 

 of silver-fir wood, each measuring about 40 ins. x 12 ins. x 8 ins. 

 One of them was untreated, while to the other Sotor had been 

 applied in the following manner : — After being thoroughly air- 

 dried, the wood was plunged into a cask from which the head 

 had been removed, and which had been three parts filled with 

 Sotor, which was kept hot. The wood remained thus in the 

 Sotor bath for two days, when it was reversed, and the other 

 end was similarly immersed for two days; the wood had then 



^ Such timbers would make good sheatliing. I am not aware of poplar or 

 beech having been used as piles, but there seems no reason why they should 

 not be serviceable as such. Experiments in this direction are to be undertaken 

 at Marseilles.— F. B. 



