1919.] 
Chilton.'—'Boring Crustacea in New Zealand. 
3 
DESTRUCTIVE BORING CRUSTACEA IN NEW 
ZEALAND. 
By Chas. Chilton. M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., M.B., C.M., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., Hon. 
Member Roy. Soc. N.S.W., Professor of Biology, Canterbury College, 
New Zealand. 
CONTENTS. 
Introduction. 
Limnoria lignorum Rathke and other Species of the Genus. 
Chelura terebrans Philippi. 
Damage done in New Zealand by Limnoria and Chelura. 
Limnoria attacking Submarine Cables. 
Sphaeroma, quoyana Milne-Edwards. 
References. 
Introduction. 
In an article “ On the Marine Wood-borers of Australasia and their Work ” 
(Report Australasian Association, vol. 8, p. 237) Mr. C. Hedley gave an 
account of the damage done to submerged timbers in Australia by marine 
borers belonging to the Crustacea and Mollusca respectively. In the 
present paper I give a short account, mainly from the biological point of 
view, of the occurrence of certain boring Crustacea in New Zealand and 
of the damage done by them. They are three in number—viz., the two 
Isopods Limnoria lignorum, (or the gribble) and Sphaeroma quoyana, and 
the Amphipod Chelura terebrans. I am not including the Mollusc Teredo, 
the ship-worm. 
I am greatly indebted to Mr. W. H. Hamer, M.Inst.C.E., Engineer 
to the Auckland Harbour Board, for information regarding the destruction 
caused by these marine pests in Auckland Harbour, and for the permission 
to use figures 7, 8, 9, 10 ; to Mr. Cyrus J. R. Williams, Engineer of the 
Lyttelton Harbour Board, for similar information with regard to Lyttelton ; 
to Mr. H. Hill, Mayor of Napier, and to Mr. G-. A. Esther, Engineer to the 
Wairoa Harbour Board, Hawke’s Bay, for information as to the occurrence 
of Sphaeroma quoyana and the damage caused by it in connection with the 
harbour-works at Wairoa. Mr. Esther has also kindly supplied the photo 
shown in fig. 11. 
Limnoria lignorum Rathke and other Species of the Genus. 
In Europe and North America the damage done by the two boring 
Crustacea, the Isopod Limnoria lignorum (commonly known as the 
“ gribble ”), and the Amphipod Chelura terebrans, has been very extensive, 
and has given much trouble to Harbour Board Engineers (see Bate and 
Westwood, 1868, p. 351). The gribble has now been spread, doubtless by 
wooden ships, all over the world. Mr. Hedley mentioned in his paper, 
published in 1901, that it had been found in timber from a floating jetty 
at Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour; Mr. Stebbing (1908, p. 50) has recorded 
it from Port Elizabeth, South Africa ; and Dr. Tattersall (1913, p. 882) 
found it in collections made by the “ Scotia ” at Port Stanley, Falkland 
Islands. In 1914 (p. 380) I recorded it from Auckland, Lyttelton, and 
Akaroa, in New Zealand, the first specimens having been sent to me by 
