206 
ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
Class CONCHIEEILA. 
Order INCLUSA, Cuvier {Pholadacea, Adams). 
PlIOLADIDiE. 
Baumhauer, E. H. von. Sur le Taret et les moyens de pre- 
server le bois de ses degats. Archives Neerlandaises des 
Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, i. 1866, pp. 1-45, with four 
plates, also in Ann. Sc. Nat. vi. 1866, pp. 112-151. 
In the summer of the year 1858 public attention was directed 
to the ravages made by the Teredo in the Port of Nieuwendam. 
A commission, consisting of M. Vrolik, P. Harting, D. Storm 
Buy sing, J. W. L. van Oordt, and the author, was appointed 
for examining the natural history of this mollusk, and for pro- 
posing means of pTotection against it. The results of their in- 
vestigations are contained in this paper : an exact description of 
the animal and of its holes is given ; it is stated to make them 
by the mechanical rasping-action of the minute denticulations 
covering a part of the surface of its valves, the movements 
having been seen by M. Kater on a living animal, the dwelling 
of which had been opened. The utility of an Annelid, Lycoris 
fucata (Haan), which feeds upon the Teredo is pointed out. The 
opinion that the Teredo has been imported by ships from India 
to Europe is disproved by the evidence of fossil wood damaged 
by it ; and it is stated that it is found at all times on the shores 
of Holland, but in extraordinary numbers in dry years, when 
the inland waters are low and the inlets of the sea contain more 
salt water, such as were the years 1731, 1770, 1827, 1858, 
and 1859. Finally, as regards the means of protection, the 
commission have arrived at the following conclusions : — 
1. It is of no use to coat the surface of the wood with any 
substance supposed to be impenetrable to the Teredo, as this 
coating will be damaged sooner or later. 
2. The impregnation of the wood with soluble inorganic salts 
does not prevent the animal from invading the wood. 
3. The hardness of the wood itself does not offer any pro- 
tection, the wood of the gai'ac and the mamberklak ” 
being invaded. 
4. The only means offering a high probability of protection 
against the animals is the impregnation of the wood with 
creosote. 
Wright, E. Perceval. Contributions to a Natural History of 
the Teredidae. Trans. Linn. Soc. xxv. pp. 5C 1-568, with 
plates 64 and 65. 
After an historical review of our knowledge of the genera of 
this family, taken from the papers of Griffiths and Home (1806), 
