< IVI1, SKI WOE PAPERS. 



I 



worm. Tho river Tchornaya WM therefor* brought for ft num- 

 ber of miles over costly aqueducts to supply the dock, bat, to 

 the ooiiHtcrnation of the naval authorities, it wan found th.u 

 stead of tho river water proving destructive to the teredo, it 

 ,ly acted as a stimalant to ita growth and a help to its in- 

 In short, tho floating dock became a perfect nursery 

 ,.r tin- Hhip-worm. Thus the intention with which it WM con- 

 t meted was at length abandoned, and salt water from tli 

 rhour wan allowed to flow freely in and out Timber* of the 

 size, placed to season in the waters of the Black Sea, 

 nou became BO perforated as to become next to useless. The 

 driven about our own dockyards show a fate but littlo 

 .-ttcr. A heavy piece of American pine timber has been rained 

 tho course of forty days' immersion among the ship-worms. 

 The safety of Holland has ere this been menaced by them 

 through tho dykes being rendered insecure and riddled with 

 worm-tubes. A great number of expedients have bc-cn had 

 Bcourse to in order to guard against tho surface of tho wood 

 Ding perforated, and it has been found that a great number of 

 n led but short- shanked nails driven into the timber to 

 jme extent answer tho desired end. Tho sea-water rapidly 

 cidises tho iron, causing it to throw out a large quantity of 

 this forming with the surrounding substances a dense 

 >;:_'h crust remains unacted on, and so long as no breach is 

 io the Teredo navalis remains excluded. 

 Whilst hunting for fragments of bored rock wo shall have a 

 ir chance of lighting on some ocean waif, bearing with it from 

 genial seas a cluster of necked barnacles (Lepas anatifera), 

 10 subjects of our illustration (Fig. 4). These are the marine 

 nimals which by some of the older naturalists were believed to bo 

 rniKvturo geese, and there are works in the British Museum in 

 rhich representations of the metamorphosis can bo found. It is 

 age and appears almost incredible that a notion so wild and 

 eless as this could have prevailed, and it only shows us how 

 juisito it is that due attention should be paid to the natural 

 lers of living things and the axiom that " like begets like." 

 These long-necked, shell-tipped creatures are constantly found 

 ongregated on tho bottoms of sea-going ships in such countless 

 . nds as to seriously interfere with the prosecution of ocean 

 travel, from the resistance they offer to the passing water. 

 7e have seen them chopped off with adzes literally by the cart- 

 load. It is with a view to preventing these pests, together with 

 sea weeds, from attaching themselves to ships' bottoms that tho 

 almost endless number of anti-fouling compositions, as they aro 

 called, have been invented. Iron ships, as well as those built of 

 vood, aro liable to become encumbered in this manner. Copper 

 sheathing appears so far to be the most valuable protection, but 

 up to this time serious difficulties have stood in the way of it.s 

 cing attached to submerged iron surfaces, on account of tho 

 lecomposition of tho latter metal by voltaic electricity. Science 

 Y, however, solve this difficulty. The valves of barnacles ore 

 extremely beautiful objects. Shell-like in structure, they aro 

 delicately pencilled and shaded with bands of a pale blue, varied 

 with markings of white, whilst tho valve borders are not un- 

 frcquently of scarlet, fading away into rich orange 



A search along tho sand flats left by tho receding tides on 

 many of our beaches will bring to light a family of tube-con- 

 structing annelids, the Sdbellcc, represented at Fig. 5. Instead 

 of, like tho teredo, forming their tubes from calcareous matter, 

 they build them up from minute particles of solid substance 

 gleaned from tho sedimentary deposits at tho bottom of 

 the sea. A set of organs, marvellous and admirable in their 

 conformation, grasp the particles of matter, and by the aid of 

 viscid and glutinous secretions thrown out by tho aniaial tho 

 vhole mass is carefully united, lined, and converted into a sand 

 tube of exceeding grace and beauty. A fine reed can 1> 

 passed into a newly- vacated sabolla tube, and when tho lining 

 membrane is dry it retains its form and becomes a charming 

 object for tho cabinet of tho collector of natural history speci- 

 mens. In the formation of the sabella's tube wo see another 

 instance of what may be called special secretion. Tho most 

 accomplished chemist would find it a difficult task to compound 

 a cement which shall possess tho power of firmly uniting and 

 binding together minute particles of shell and stone gathered 

 wet from tho Bands of tho sea and saturated with saline elements. 

 To him the task would be well nigh as difficult as that which 

 tradition has assigned to the wandering phantoms of Dosmerry 

 Pool, in Cornwall. No rest, it is said, can they enjoy until they 



succeed in making fagot* of Mad, MM! Kadis* th* with bands 

 of the same material. The sabellft performs ft more dtfseolt 

 task than even thi*, for he oonstraoU for hisisstf ft comfort- 

 able marine resident)*, with sand for Us only boilding maUnal. 

 This power of tobfrboilding by the aid of adhesive seeratfoo k 

 not confined to oreatoros inhabiting the sea. We shall fad, ft* 

 in the case of land, sea, and fresh- water shells, that ft striking 

 resemblance exists between the remits of the labour* of aquatic 

 and terrestrial tube-dwellers. Quitting the sea-shore, let a* 

 tarn our attention to the still pools of some dear brook where 

 the water weeds and rashes grow. Let us ssareh amongst the 

 lily root* and between the stones at the bottom, and w* shall 

 find case or caddis worms, the larvsj of a family of neoropterons 

 insects, the short-lived ephemeral flies, of which the March brown 

 and May-fly of the angler* are examples. There are, how- 

 ever, a great number of lesser numbers of this family remark- 

 able for constructing their tabes from selected and special 

 materials ; whilst other kinds appear to glean bap-hazard from 

 amongst the small substance* at the bottom of the stream, and 

 cement together tenantless fresh-water shell*, bit* of broken 

 nnio, particles of gravel, sand, etc. Fig. 6 represents one of 

 them. We find another kind making us* of short lengths of 

 hard sharp grass 'stem, so arranged that all the ends point 

 outwards like the quills of a diminutive hedgehog, as shown in 

 Fig. 7; and a third, forming ft case task-like in shape, and 

 entirely of very fine grains of sand, represented at Fig. 8. 

 Wo find yet other kinds building up sticks and bits of bark by 

 a system of longitudinal arrangement, and one whose tube is 

 formed by uniting lengths cut from blades of grass. Some of 

 these larviu remain more than one year in the nsnnd stage 

 before becoming perfect insects. In order to obtain ft view 

 of the true land cade-worm or oikelicut, we most visit the 

 jungles of India, or tho forests of Australia, Brazil, or tho 

 Philippine Islands. Like the caddis-worm of the brook, the 

 oiketicus makes use of a variety of materials for the oonstmo- 

 tion of its castle. The first we ever discovered was suspended, 

 as represented at Fig. 9, from a Banbul thorn-tree (mimossa), 

 under which wo chanced to seek shade in Bengal. The thorns 

 of this description of tree are remarkable for their great length, 

 toughness, and penetrating power. Taking advantage of those 

 qualities, the oiketicus cats them off at suitable lengths, 

 arranges them side by side, with tho points all one way, like ft 

 tapering bundle of bayonets. In tho centre of this formidable 

 array of spikes the retreat of tho worm is formed. By a stoat 

 band of tough silk it swings itself from the thorn-guarded 

 branch, and bids defiance to furred or feathered marauders. 

 There is a most curious and interesting point in the history of 

 tho ciketicus in which it differs from most other insects. Mai* 

 moths only pass through the process of transformation. The 

 female remains during her life a tube-dweller, receiving the 

 visits of the male in her bayonet house. After the deposition of 

 a number of fertile eggs on the bottom of the castle of strength, 

 the grub gradually wastes away, and at length shrivels completely 

 up, leaving merely a ball of dry skin as a protection to the egg* 

 below. Tho question as to what becomes of the young brood on 

 arriving at an age to shift for themselves we must solve in oar 

 next paper. 



CIVIL SERVICE PAPEK& V. 



GBXHJP V. 



1. THE SEAMEN'S REGISTER AND RECORD or SEAM EX, 

 (Open Competition.) 



THIS is a subordinate department of the Board of Trade, and 

 the educational qualifications are the same as for that depart- 

 ment. The office is at London Bridge, and the duties of it, 

 called into existence by the Merchant Shipping Act, 

 in recording the ner vices and characters of merchant 

 and watching over the interests of the seaman a* against his 

 employers and the officers of chips. Complaints on either side 

 uio investigated and recorded by the registrar, and in the 

 office are compiled many valuable statistic*, which serve from 

 time to time as the buus of new regulation* on the subject of 

 the treatment of seamen. The muster roll of the naval reserve 

 and all the detail connected therewith is kept in the office. 



Salaries : Third-class clerks, 85 to 300; second-class 

 clerks, 250 to 400 ; first-class clerk*, 420 to 600. 



