382 PHILOSOPHICAL TRAW8ACTIONS. [aNNO IJSQ. 



a white colour, which it exactly fills, yet so as to be able to move with freedom. 

 That tube, like the coverings of snails, &c. daily grows with the animal, from 

 the matter which perspires from its body ; whence it is sometimes found 

 straight, sometimes bent, according to the course which the worm steered in 

 corroding. 



As to their generation, it is probable enough, that, analogous to that of 

 other insects, it is performed by copulation of male and female : for thev can so 

 lengthen one end of their tail, and thrust it out of the pile, that they may 

 copulate by that means. Then they lay their eggs in the water, close to the 

 piles, to which they stick by their clammy viscid matter, such, for example, as 

 frog's spawn ; and afterwards, by the heat of the sun, hatch the worm, which 

 immediately endeavours to get into the pile- 



Dr. B. could not observe the difference of sex, either with the eye, or a mi- 

 croscope. Some think them hermaphrodites, as snails, and that they copulate 

 in the same manner : but these conjectures are not very probable. 



Many remedies and secrets for destroying these dangerous enemies were im- 

 mediately boasted of, which for the most part were preparations of arsenic or 

 mercury, and are not worth enumerating : the following is the best and surest 

 of all. Take an iron plate, of an oblong figure, and of the width of the pile, 

 with a strong handle at each end. One end of this plate must be armed with 

 thick nails, half an inch long, and about an inch asunder. The nails of this 

 plate must be driven into a pile of any slight wood, with a hammer, and then 

 the plate pulled off by njeans of its handles. And this is to be repeated, until 

 the pile is perforated every where with small holes : then it must be daubed 

 over with varnish in the hottest sun, the varnish being imbibed by the soft 

 wood with so many holes in it ; and while the varnish is yet hot, let it be 

 strewed over with brick- dust. And this is to be repeated 3 or 4 times, after the 

 preceding varnish is quite dry, till the pile is entirely surrounded with a stony 

 crust, which will be impenetrable to all insects, and last many years. 



But Providence has already so far destroyed these pernicious insects, which 

 multiplied so prodigiously for 8 or p years past, that there is great room for 

 hope, that our country will in a short time be entirely freed from them. 



^n Explanation of the Figures. — Fig. 6, pi. 8, is the pile-worm, of its 

 natural middle size, lying on its belly. 



Fig. 7, the same lying on its back, a is the stomach ; b the duct, full of 

 excrements ; c the tail, with its defences dd, and its point e, which it can 

 stretch out. 



The Six following Figures are represented much larger than Life. — Fig. 8, 

 A, A, the first series of fibres running straight down ; bb the second series 



