340 TOILERS IN 1 HE SEA. 



CHAPTER XL 

 EXCAVATORS. 



I ^XCAVATORS, or boring animals, are some of 

 ' them so destructive, in the pursuit of their 

 legitimate occupation, that they have obtained an 

 unenviable notoriety amongst men, who are often 

 scheming to circumvent them in their nefarious 

 designs. Although somewhat beyond the scope of 

 our original design to include the marine mollusks 

 within our category, yet, as a preliminary to the 

 more minute and insignificant excavators, it will be 

 necessary to devote a few lines to the boring mollusks. 

 Foremost, perhaps, in notoriety will be the Teredo, 

 that terror of shipowners, and those interested in 

 wooden structures exposed to the sea. These 

 creatures have the audacity to attack every piece 

 of wood which comes within their reach, perforating 

 it in all directions, until at last it crumbles at a 

 touch. Many a ship has split in the open sea, 

 through the planks having been drilled by this 

 insidious invader. The hardest oak or teak wood is 



