12 



SECTION I. 

 CO NCHIFER A CRASS1PEDA : 

 The foot of the animal thick, the shell gaping conside- 

 rably. This section contains four families : Tubicolaria, 

 Pholaderia, Solenacea, and Myaria. 



TUBICOLARIA. 



Inhabiting a tube. 



TEREDO. 



GENERIC CHARACTER: Tube testaceous, cylindrical, 

 flexuous, open at both ends, not belonging to the shell, and 

 covering the animal. Shell bivalve, placed posteriorly, 

 on the outside of the tube. 



*T. NAVALIS. Lin. Pen. Brit. Zo., vol 4, p. 147. 

 Stew. Elem., vol. 2, p. 423. Mont. Test. Brit., vol. 2, 

 p. 527. Fleming's British Animals, p. 454. The posterior 

 valves or pallets, Crouch's Intr., pi. 2, fig. 10, b, the jaw 

 10 a. Auger Worm. 



This animal enters wood that has been penetrated by Sea 

 "Water, and soon enlarges its habitation ; devouring tor- 

 tuously in the direction of the fibres, and filling its intestines 

 with the saw dust, to a state of great distension. It pene- 

 trates to the length of about a foot, in a chamber something 

 less than an inch in diameter ; and is capable of retracting 

 itself, or turning in an inclined direction, to avoid any 

 formidable obstacle. At first these animals do not eat into 

 each others chambers; and when this has happened, they 

 retreat and take a new direction. But when their numbers, 

 and the complexity of their habitations have increased, the 

 substance of the wood may be found pierced in all directions, 

 so as at last to fall asunder; and like the fabled hero of 

 antiquity, the life of the animal depending on the existence 

 of the log, the whole perish together. 



Their mode of increase is uncertain ; but at an early 

 period of their lives they must possess a free existence, for 

 they enter wood that has never been deeply immersed ; and 

 that, contrary to former opinion, they are permanent inha- 

 bitants of our sea, appears from the fact, that they have been 

 found in wood belonging to vessels, sailing from our own 

 ports, that have sunk on our coast; and the timbers of 

 which have been afterwards recovered. 

 * T. MALLEOLUS. Flern. Brit. An., p. 454. 



This species is smaller than the former; it is probably 

 more rare, and in my observation, the tube is more slight 

 and thin. As however, my remarks are derived from some 

 that had not penetrated deeply, I do not feel confident in 

 the general want of solidity of the tube ; for in the T. Navalis, 

 even when of considerable size, the tube is often found as 



