191 



The biological work was initiated by Professor Kofoid, and duriiit; the early 

 part of the investigation all phases of the work were handled by him, with some 

 student and other assistance. As the scope of the in\'estigations increased, however, 

 it became necessary to enlist other workers, under Professor Kofoid's direction, and 

 to evolve some satisfactory division of labor. Since 1921 the field work and general 

 ecological studies have been the particular province of Dr. Miller. The morphology 

 of Teredo was studied in detail by Mr. Lazier during two successive summers. Through 

 the winter and spring of 1922 Mr. Blum made an extensive field and laboratory study 

 of the effect of low salinity on Teredo navalis. During the summer of 1922 the aid of 

 Professor Dore was enlisted in a study of the digestion of wood by Teredo. From July, 

 1923, until July, 1924, Mr. Van Slyke was engaged in a special investigation of the 

 biology of Limnoria. 



Dr. W. D. Ramage, the Committee chemist, has rendered in\aluable cooperation 

 in several phases of the biological work. 



The original purposes of this Committee, which embraced merely an investigation 

 of the marine borer situation in San Francisco Bay, have been considerabK' enlarged 

 in consequence of an increasing interest in marine borer problems at other Pacific 

 Coast ports. In 1922 Dr. Miller visited Los Angeles Harbor as a guest of Mr. D. E. 

 Hughes, M. Am. Soc. C. E., and with the assistance of Mr. Hughes and the coopera- 

 tion of the Los Angeles Harbor Engineer's Office a general reconnaissance was made 

 of the marine borer situation in that harbor. The transfer of Lieut. C. L. McCrae, 

 U. S. N., an active member of this Committee, from Mare Island to San Diego, 

 opened the way for an investigation in San Diego Bay. 



In the meantime, the organization of the Xational Research Council Committee 

 on Marine Piling Investigations and the working out of a suitable plan of cooperation 

 between that committee and the San Francisco Bay Committee resulted in the placing 

 of a series of test boards at various localities on the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to the 

 Gulf of California, and at a few points in the Hawaiian, Samoan and Philippine 

 Islands. Blocks have been removed from these boards at regular inter\'als and for- 

 warded to the biological staft' of this Committee for examination. The test board 

 program has covered a year at each localit>-. 



Thus there has become available a considerable quantity of new data, many of 

 which — indeed most of which — are from localities regarding which little or nothing 

 in this connection was previoush' known. 



Some of the results of the biological investigations which it seemed desirable to 

 make immediately availalile to those interested have, with the sanction of the Com- 

 mittee, been published in the University of California Publications in Zoology, and 

 elsewhere, as technical papers h\ the indi\idual in\-estigators. The following papers 

 have thus been published: 



Variations in the Shell of Teredo navalis in San Francisco Bay, by R. C. Miller. 



Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., 22. 292-328. 

 Variations in the Pallets of Teredo navalis in San Francisco Bay, by R. C. Miller. 



Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., 22. 401-414. 

 On the Effect of Low Salinity on Teredo navalis, by H. F. Blum. Univ. Calif. 



Publ. Zool., 22. 349-367. 

 The Digestion of Wood by Teredo navalis, by \V. H. Dore and R. C. Miller. 



Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., 22, 383-400. 

 An Unusual Occurrence of Rock Boring Mollusks in Concrete on the Pacific 



Coast, by C. A. Kofoid and R. C. Miller. Science, 57, 383-384. 



