Observations on the Teredo navalis and Limnoria terebrans , as at present existing in certain localities of the British Islands

Abstract

The opinion which has been advanced, that the Teredo navalis is no longer to be found on the British coast, is shown by the author to be erroneous; for numerous specimens of that destructive animal, collected from the piles used in the formation of the pier at Port-patrirk in Ayrshire, were furnished to him by Captain Frayer, R. N. (of His Majesty’s Steam-packet Spitfire). Some of these specimens had attained the length of nearly two feet and a half, a magnitude at least equal to, if not exceeding, the largest brought from the Indian seas. After giving a description of the animal, the author enters into an inquiry into the agency it employs to perforate the timber which it consumes as food, and in which it establishes its habitation. He ascribes to the action of a solvent, applied by the proboscis, the smooth and rounded termination of its cell, which is afterwards enlarged by the mechanical action of the primary valves. The author then gives an account of the natural history and operations of another animal, the Limnoria terebrans , of Leach, belong­ing to the class of Crustacea, whose depredations on timber are no less extensive and formidable than the Teredo. At Portpatrick it ap­pears that both these animals have combined their forces in the work of destruction, the Teredo consuming the interior, and the Limnoria the superficial parts of the wood; the latter continuing its labours until it comes in contact with the shells of the former, so that the whole mass is speedily deprived of cohesion. It is stated, on the au­thorities of Mr. Hyndman and Mr. Stephen, that the Limnoria is al­ready committing great ravages in the timber at Donaghadee.