Teredo Attacks, Boats and Piers. 221 



quently cleaned and tarred or covered with patent chemical 

 compositions, are still liable to weed and worm. When the 

 boats are left high and dry for some time, if in hot weather, 

 then the Teredo dies ; or if there is a hard or long continued 

 frost (as in 1895) this likewise kills them. 



Notwithstanding that the wooden piles of old Southend Pier 

 were protected by closely-set broad-headed nails, yet on their 

 final removal we observed that Teredo had found entry into a 

 few of them. Such timber piles as were afterwards required 

 in addition to the iron ones and framework were of greenheart. 

 Whether these will ultimately resist Teredo remains to be seen. 

 Various penetrating re-agents* have been recommended and 

 tried elsewhere, but, though beneficial in some degree, yet 

 hitherto they have not proved perfect checks to the creatures' 

 ravages. 



The Xylophaga dorsalis is a shorter-bodied wood perforator, 

 intermediate in characters between Teredo and Pholas {infra), 

 probably nearest the latter. The only instance and locality we 

 know of adjoining our District is a record of its occurrence at 

 Gravesend (Jeff., Brit. Conch., Vol. III.). 



Chalk and Stone Borers (Patella and Pholas). (/) The 

 COMMON LIMPET (Patella vulgaris) may be taken as an example 

 of a shallow excavator in our chalk cliffs. It is probably most 

 numerous in S. Kent, where the shore is rocky in nature. 

 They are not much partaken of as human aliment in our 

 District ; but in the N.E. of England they are consumed in 

 great quantities by the populace. They are with us southern 

 folks rather serviceable as bait, notably for pout and codling 

 among rod and line sea-fishers. Their fleshy body gets tougher 

 and holds better to the hook when partially sun-dried. 



The true stone borers belong to the genus Pholas, all four 

 British species inhabiting the Kent shores. The SMALL PHOLAS 

 (P. parva) and the CURLED PHOLAS (P. crispata) are rarer ; but 



* Such as Bethell's Creosote, or oil of coal tar, Burnett's Chloride of Zinc, Tryan's 

 Corrosive Sublimate of Mercury, Margary's Salts of Metals, Payne's Chloride of Lime 

 and Sulphate of Iron. See Paton's paper on Old Southend Pier-head and Ravages of 

 Teredo, in Proc. Inst. Civ. Engineers, Vol. IX., 1860. 



