The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-19
WONDERFUL OCEAN MINERS.
Tiny Craftsmen Can Bore Into the Hard
est Rocks.

| Some remark BILE miners are found in
the ocean delving into the hardest rock.
Some of them work in limestone coral,
others penetrate the muddy bottom and
incase the shaft in which they work
with lime. So far as it's resemblance to
a miner of the land is concerned the
shell known as pholas is the most re-
markable as it is not only a wonderful
| miner, but also carries a light, bright
and vivid, that seems to serve as
miners lamp. and that has some inter
eSting properties, one of which is that
it shows in the water and in vacuum,
and, while clear and distinct, emits not
the slightest heat.
| The pholas is richly chase shell
| about two inches in length, and has the
| power of boring holes in the hardest
| rock as well as in clay, but, unlike
| other miners, the pholas never comes
out of the mine. By some means, pos
| sibly by its rasping foot, possibly by
some secretion that dissolves the stone.
| it gradually wears the stone away and
| slowly and imperceptibly enters, not in
straight line, but in an undulating
course, for a few inches. Having
reached a place of safety the miner be-
gins to enlarge it's lead or tube. This
continues as the shell grows, until
finally, If the pholas was capable of
approaching it's surroundings. it would
realize that it had bored into the rock
and there grown larger than the tunnel
through which it entered. The object
of this miner is not to obtain riches.
but to find protection and security in
its granite cell, and with it's light
cleaning at night no better imitation
of a human miner can be imagined
Almost as remarkable is the mygelius.
| The pholas is incased in a shell almost
| flint but the mygellus is very delicate
g.
with the aid of some dissolving, Secre-
| tion. 1t penetrates the rock or object
which it selects and gradually throws
| out a tiny tube which is merely an eX-
| tension of the shell. In some instances
this tube is foot in length and mar
| vellous example of the tubemaker's
art. It is said that distinguished en-
gineer obtained his idea of tunnel
| from this shell.
These shell miners are not especially
destructive. They bore very slowly and
| usually attack stone. but there are
| other miners which are inveterate en-
| emies of man in their efforts to destroy
wharves, piers and vessels, chief among
| which is a little crah-like creature
Limnoria-that affects piers and bores
| into the hardest lumber penetrating it
| in every direction, until it presents the
appearance of a honeycomb. So persis-
| tent are these miners on the California
coast that 1t is necessary to repair
docks and piers once or twice year.
In tropical waters an equally destruc-
tive ocean miner is found in the teredo,
| that penetrates the hull of vessels and
| woodwork of all kinds. AS it proceeds
| it encases its tube with limelike Sc
| erection. and, in some instances the en-
tire framework is eaten away and re-
placed by the pearly deposit of this
| miner, that constructs a tube as care
| fully devised as the arch of the human
| miner A wreck stranded on a coral
| reef, so high and dry that one could
walk around it at low tide, showed
| the beams and planks intact in many
| instances, but the hand could be thrust
| through the apparently solid planking
in any direction, the structure crush
! ing in like pasteboard, The interior
wood had been eaten away and re-
| placed by the limelike tubes of this re-
markable miner.
Among the worms are many singu-
lar miners that construct elaborate
tubes 10 or Is feet in length, and have
lights upon their bodies with which 10
illuminate the tunnel. Nearly all the
crabs are miners and of a very skillful
| class. especially the spirit crabs, which.
mine in soft sand and by their careful
manipulation prove their wonderful
skill in mining.--New York Sun.