304 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 19 



piles in Ceylon. Dr. Arthur Willey in transmitting these specimens 

 to Mr. Stebbing says: 



While collecting in a salt-water lake having both fluviatile and marine con- 

 nections I came across some piles of cocoanut driven into the water by fishermen, 

 which harbored great numbers of small organisms, tubieolous amphipods, and 

 boring isopods, and in amongst the tubes several errant species, isopods, amphi- 

 pods, and what I took to be tanaids. . . . 



The tubieolous amphipods were mostly on the inner surface of the bark 

 stripped off the piles. The boring isopods were mostly above the water line. 

 I cut off the top of the block and had it photographed and send copy [published 

 by Bate, 1904, opp. p. 16]. . . . It looks like a bee or wasp nest, each cell 

 containing an isopod when fresh and several with young. 



Dr. Teesdale (1914, p. 356) speaks of Sphaeroma destructor as 

 one of the principal borers in marine woodwork, entering even pal- 

 metto piles in Florida, which are said to be immune from attacks from 

 T< n do, and as of general occurrence from Louisiana to South Carolina 

 in both fresh and salt water. The bores of this species are described 

 as "from one-eighth to three-sixteenths inch in diameter and one-half 

 inch long," though the borer is said to be "larger than the holes it 

 bores" [!]. The galleries are described as approximately uniform in 

 diameter without a calcareous lining, the lack of which distinguishes 

 them from the borings of Teredo, though the occurrence of this borer 

 in the same timber with Teredo probably accounts for the fact that the 

 separate origin of their holes was overlooked until the late discovery 

 of the isopod as a borer in 1897. Woodwork in fresh water as well 

 as in salt water in the region where these isopods are abundant is to 

 be protected only by impregnation with creosote. 



In personal correspondence with the present writer (dated May 16, 

 1914, and quoted by permission), Dr. W. de C. Ravenal of the United 

 States National Museum says: 



There are in the museum collections specimens of Sphaeroma destructor 

 Richardson from Colleton River, South Carolina, found by the Fish Commission 

 in 1911 in soft sandstone between tide marks, also specimens of S. Seiboldii 

 Dollfus from Yokohama imbedded in holes in tufa. Other boring species are 

 Sphaeroma peruvianum Rich, and Limnoria japonicum Rich. 



Of Sphaeroma peruvianum Richardson, the so-called mangrove 

 louse, "piojos de mangle," the describer (Richardson, 1910, p. 83) 

 says: 



A large number of specimens were collected in the oyster beds of Matapolo 

 (near Capon), Peru. They were found in wood, in holes bored by them. The 

 wood was completely honeycombed . . . 



The following notes were supplied by Dr. Coker [who collected the speci- 

 mens]: "These small Crustacea are economically significant, since they enter 



