12 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Jan. 
by the Isopod itself, and not by Teredo. Many years ago specimens were 
sent to me by Mr. J. MacMahon, from Kenepuru Sound, boring into soft 
sandstone. Later on I collected specimens in Queen Charlotte Sound which 
were also boring into sandstone. Sphaeroma quoyana was mentioned by 
Hedley (1901, p. 239) as having been found boring in wood in Sydney Har¬ 
bour, and he states that it hardly differs from S. verrucauda. In 1903 Mr. 
T. Whitelegge sent me specimens of S. quoyana from Sydney Harbour, and 
in forwarding them said, “ Sphaeroma quoyana is identical with specimens 
from Mr. Thomson’s collection labelled S. verrucauda .” These specimens 
in Mr. Thomson’s collection were some of those from Kenepuru Sound that 
I had handed on to him. In a paper published in 1912 (p. 134) I con¬ 
firmed Mr. Whitelegge’s statement that the two species should be united, 
although, as stated originally by Miers, the Australian examples are not so 
hairy as those from New Zealand, and they may, of course, have slightly 
different habits. In my collection I have specimens also from Western 
Port, Victoria, collected by the late 0. A. Sayce, and one collected by 
Mr. G. M. Thomson under stones, Huon River, Tasmania. 
In his paper Mr. Hedley uses the two names, S. quoyana and S. verru¬ 
cauda, as it was not definitely known at that time that these are different 
names of the same species. He also mentions “ a species of Sphaeroma, 
distinct from S. quoyana, probably unnamed,” which he had seen from 
Wyong, N.S.W., and Port Mackay, Queensland,* and it is not quire clear 
whether the description he proceeds to give of the destruction caused by 
the Sphaeroma refers to this species or to S. quoyana. He gives, however, 
a figure (1901, pi. vii) of a block of “ hardwood (eucalypt) ” bored by 
S. quoyana. This timber formed one of the ribs of a craft which had lain 
for several years as a wreck at the head of Mosman’s Bay, Sydney Har¬ 
bour. He states that the perforations are J in. in diameter, and adds that 
this Sphaeroma had been observed by Mr. Whitelegge to bore holes in the 
sandstone rock at Mosman’s Bay. 
It thus appears that S. quoyana may bore either into wood or into 
sandstone or other rock. 
Subsequently specimens of S. quoyana were sent to me from Hawke’s 
Bay by Mr. Hutchinson, labelled “ Brackish, in burrows ” ; and in 
Mr. W. R. B. Oliver’s collection there are several labelled “ Mud-flats, 
Wanganui,” and others “ Rangitoto Channel, Narrow Neck, Auckland 
Harbour,” though in these cases there was no record of the material into 
which the Sphaeroma was boring. 
Probably the species is fairly common in suitable localities round the 
coast of New Zealand, but I had not heard of its doing any damage of 
economic importance until in April, 1918, Mr. H. Hill, Mayor of Napier, 
sent me specimens that were boring into the claystone or papa rock 
used for embankments in the harbour-works at Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay, 
where it honeycombed the rock so that it quickly crumbled away. 
In replying to my questions, Mr. G. A. Esther, Engineer of the Wairoa 
* Specimens of this species from Wyong were afterwards sent to me by Mr. White¬ 
legge, and I have identified it as Sphaeroma terebrans Bate, a species widely dis¬ 
tributed in warmer seas in India, &c., and probably identical with S. destructor 
Richardson from St. John’s River, Florida, U.S.A. Stebbing (1904, p. 16) gives a full 
account of S. terebrans and discusses its synonymy (see also Richardson, 1905, p. 282). 
Later on Stebbing (1908, p. 49) recorded it from Gamtoos River, South Africa. Since 
this was written Dr. T. Harvey Johnston has sent me specimens from Brisbane 
River, Queensland, where it is very destructive to submerged timbers. 
