TEREDO NAVALIS IN NOVA SCOTIA — MURPHY. 359 



of their attacks, than to discuss the several species of molluscs 

 which perpetrate them. 



Let us now return from this digression to the consideration, 

 first, of the abode of the Teredo in Nova Scotia. 



From a series of investigations for the purpose of this paper, 

 the author is led to believe that the Teredo Navalis, or the Tere- 

 do Norvegica, exists all along the shores of this Peninsula. The 

 zone or area of its active opei^ations is, however, confined along 

 the shore bounded by Northumberland Strait, St. George's Bay, 

 Strait of Canseau, Chedabucto Bay, and all round Cape Breton 

 Island. South and West of these places its attacks are not very 

 remarkable, the Limnoria Lignorum. being more conspicuous for 

 its depredations along the Atlantic Coast, from Chedabucto Bay 

 to Cape Sable and along the shores of the Bay of Fundy. It is 

 very remarkable that in Nova Scotia the haunts of the Teredo, 

 where its ravages are greatest, indeed where its destruction is 

 very noticeable, are confined to bays, harbours or estuaries that 

 are frozen over from four to five months of the year. From 

 Cape Sable to Cape North, 370 miles, we have a much greater- 

 diversity of climate than is due to latitude alone. The influence 

 of the gulf stream on the southwestern promontory gives a 

 milder and more tepid atmosphere, with harbours open ,all the 

 year round. The influence of the ice floes in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence on our northern and more eastern coast, has quite the 

 opposite effect. Here where our harbours or rivers are sheltered 

 from agitation of the sea, they are frozen over, and here is 

 seemingly the place where the Teredo appears to live, thrive and 

 destroy. 



At Shediac I have seen a spruce stick, that had been driven as 

 a fender pile to the wharf one year previously, completely honey- 

 combed so that it floated to the surface. I saw living teredos in 

 it from 4 to 6 inches in length. I am sorry I did not know 

 enough at the time, to notice the shell or pallets which distin- 

 guish the species. 



At Pictou the Teredo is very destructive on both sides of the 

 harbour, almost every piece of submerged timber bears traces of 

 its ravages. 



