SHIP-WORM. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Shell a small taper tube, open at each end. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Teredo navalis. T. testa tenuissima cylindrica laevi. Linn. 
Syst. Nat . Gmel. 1. p. 3747. 
Shell very thin, smooth and cylindrical. 
Serpula testa cylindracea flexuosa, lignum 
perforans. Anon. Conch, pi. 10. f. 1 and 4. 
Ship-worm. . Phil. Trans. 1741. no. 455. pi. 2. Baster. 
Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. no. 1 60. Da Cost. 
Brit. Conch, p. 21. Montague Test. Brit. 
p. 527. 
The animal which inhabits this tubular shell 
has been long known, and always dreaded, on ac- 
count of the mischief it does to our timber, and 
particularly to the bottoms of our vessels. The 
hardest oak is no defence against its persevering in- 
dustry, but in time becomes perforated in every 
part, and doomed to decay. As the teredo, though 
very insignificant in itself, has become of conse- 
quence on account of its destructive power, we shall 
