16 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
The second of these references will supply a sufficient clue to 
the extensive literature of this genus in the wider acceptation. 
SPHzEROMA TEREBRANS , Bate. 
PL L 
1866. Sphceroma terebrans , Bate, Annals and Magazine Nat. 
Hist., ser. 3, vol. XVII., p. 28, pi. 2, fig. 5. 
1866. Sphceroma vastator , Bate, Annals and Magazine Nat. 
Hist., ser. 3, vol. XVII., p. 28, pi. 2, fig, 4. 
1897. Sphceroma destructor , H. Richardson, Proc. Biol. Soc. 
Washington, vol. XI., p. 105, figs, in text. 
Common sense continually justifies Bishop Butler’s axiom that 
probability is the guide of life. But about the name and synonymy 
of the present species conflicting probabilities range themselves 
in a disturbing manner. There can be no doubt that an intimate 
relationship exists between—(1) Sphceroma terebrans , named by 
Fritz Muller, who procured it in Brazil from timber that had been 
immersed in the sea ; (2) Sphceroma vastator, Bate ; (3) Sphceroma 
destructor , Harriet Richardson ; and (4) the form about to be des¬ 
cribed. 
Bate’s species was sent to him from Madras by Captain Mitchell, 
according to whom it was procured “ from a piece of wood which 
had formed part of a railway bridge over one of the backwaters 
on the west coast of the Indian Peninsula. The wood was honey¬ 
combed with cylindrical holes, from about y 1 ^ to T 2 ¥ of an inch in 
diameter, placed close together. In many of these holes the 
animal was rolled up like a ball.”* 
In Bate’s description we may notice the following statements:— 
“ The animal is of a long oval shape, without any distinct coxae, 
and furnished with four longitudinal parallel rows of tubercles or 
blunt teeth on the three posterior somites of the pereion and the 
anterior portion of the pleon,” “ The superior antennae have the 
first joint of the peduncle broader than the second, which is very 
short and round ; the third is twice as long as the second, but 
much shorter than the first, and the flagellum gradually tapers to 
an obtuse point, and is formed of several articuli, of which the 
first is much the longest.” The second antennae are “perhaps 
slightly longer.” “ The mandibles are robust, and furnished with 
strong pointed incisor teeth as well as a powerful molar tubercle, 
between which exists a process armed with six or seven strong 
equal-lengthed serrated spines, which are probably used in the 
tearing down of the wood into which the animal burrows. The 
* Annals and Magazine, loc. cit., p. 30. 
