The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-25
STUDYING THE TEREDo.

higher than Puget sound and the ground
easily worked without blasting. The
chief advantage of fresh water harbor
for ships, of course, is that the teredo or
ship worm, the pest Of all warm salt
waters and especially Of Puget sound,
would be eliminated. Large bills for
naval vermifuge would thus be rendered
unnecessary and irOnclads especially
would become less porUus
The teredo is one Of a genus Of sca-
phalous, testaceOus mollusks that bore
and penetrate the bottoms of ships and
other submersed wood The ship worm
belongs to a family Of conchiferous or
lameIli branchiates. They are not,
strictly speaking, worms at all, as they
have the true mollUscan organization
and the elongation Of the body is simply
due to the excessive proraction back
ward Of the siphouR1 tubes, which thus
give Us a long wasted mollusk, vul-
carly called a worm If l do not make
myself perfectly clear, or if l use words
which bother or confuse the scientist, |
hope he VIII not be at all backward
about coming to me for an explanation.
The abdominal or shell covered pOr-
ton Of the animal is comparatively
small, and, according to Theodore Gill,
is almost subglobular. The siphonal
portion is. in proportion, extremely long
and wOrmhke.
The description of this bird increases in
interest as we proceed, and word or
two further regarding this little acepha-
lous, testaceous mollusk, which patiently
goes to work to sink a great ship, may
not be entirely cut O. place at this time,
for l am not radical opposed to facts
in the abstract. 1t Is only the abnormal,
protracted and chronic Use Of facts that
l deprecate and deplore.
The family Of Teredinide, to which
the ship worm belongs. have siphons that
are united for the greater part of their
length, but free towards their ends, and
these are armed with two peculiar elon-
gated shelly sppendages called styles or
siphonal palleJres.
The tereGo does not care for social rec
ognition, but devotes its life TO this great
task. With no appettefJr club life, yet
ignoring its marital relations and negl-
gent of domestic responsibilities, the tere-
do gives UP its whole existence to mis-
taken and Ill advised Efforts to damage
the commerce OF the world.
In this family the mantle is web devel-
oped, lis lObes united except at the pedal
opening. reflected behind over the valves
OF the shell and developed above into lobe
Ike expansions. whi,.h ere reflected over
the hinges of the shell and serve to keep
tlevalves IL place. The iEs are large and
extend far into the siDhGnal portion. The
mouth Is provided with PalEi. and 1t has
a sweet breath like that NJ clover fed
COW. The loot Is sU 5cTi5nE-1ca3 and suck
erlike, with q f0laCeoUs margin. mCteI-
ately protractSve and vel supplied with
nerves. The shell IS composed Of two
equal valves OF peculiar form
The family includes the Tcredo. the
Nansitora, the Kuphess, the Calculates,
the Xylotrys-- tle Uperotus and the Lyro-
dus. all Of whozn axe highly connected
On entering the Etavy the Ieredo family's
nott0is Ever Onward ami upward, and
though at times Ne Is Z bore, the rereao
retains his hold oa society Ike reJired
pUgihst who has married well
The Tare.,o EaB,al.s, Is we call HIM in
scientific circles. does his boring and de
stTuctIve work 6y-ueaUs Of the ar1uature
OF the valves already described. and yet
Professor E Pe-cival Wright very truth
fully says that the ship WORN IS no aEna-
ture at this business