Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-20

In the shell group, or mollusks. Some years
ag3 ag4' while living on key. at the extreme
ehu OF the Florida peninsula, | had an op-
OF their work
e lhe key boasted only two docks made
bt ba;n neavy yellow pine, the logs under water
thnrss, thbons Protected by casing of hard wood,
thoroughly covered with tar and fine concrete.
Ills dns would seem a sufficient protection
against delicate mollusk, but such was their
power OF boring that in a few months the
t;ag t;nomg structure was made insecure, and at
times, when loaded heavily, the entire dock
cdVeu In. From the outside the wood show
ed no evidence of its weakness. and often
what appeared to be solid post was mere
empty she'll
The animal which committed these ravages
was the teredo, or ship-worm. 1t attacks
woouWork, especially in southern waters, and
burrows IN, forming tube as it goes, and
ds[elGtly dannsit nm nni9g 1t with smooth calcareous
ilvlng extension of its she'll
a., dhese tunnels wind in and out through
the wood, IN some inoomprehensbe way
AVOIDING aHis nails and other shells, showing in
TINS way much more penetration than MANY
human delivers under the earth's crust and rji1 IN
very short time strong solid timber will
pc found completely honeycombed by these
| leads or tunnels
IN. IN tins M same locality, often visited the
reef and partly under water 1 had always
IhoughC the t1mbers were strong and heavy
until one day. | slipped and my foot struck
q Ine T. potion h & of the hull and sank into it as
the entire hull of the old ship was mere
skeleton, and not long after, during heavy
gaze IL 1ei IN pieces, very much after the
fashion OF the "one-hoss shay" Experiments
have showed that the palmetto was the only
wood that resisted their inroads for any length
of time NN' -e"s'n
The amount of damage these little animals
are capable of doing is well shown in the
case of the dikes of Holland. These i'm
mense mems structures are strengthened by heavy
safety Of the long shore' iSSI folks extent the
;, In the year 173O dangerous leak was
discovered, d that threatened the entire coast.
it was found that the cause of the mischief
was the teredo. All of the great piles We're
pierced in every direction by these silent
miners. '
a, In this case new piles were driven in, and
the surface under water covered with broad.
headed nails, the rust having some effect upon
the animals. 'f'0N
The ordinary teredo is about six ;ncbea
IN length, but in the waters of Sumatra and
Borneo specimens have been found whose tun.
nels were four or five feet long. several inches
through, and when covered with shells and
other animals weighing many pounds
these ntS giants Cand they are called Teredo
glgantesl were discovered after violent earth
quake the withdrawal of the water leoving
mud. re"' in VIC
One of the most powerful of the molluskous
miners is the pholas, bivalve shell tbat
carries its light like a human miner being
phosphorescent IN the dark. They penetrate
the hardest granite, and after attaining p
position, within the stone they enlarge their
cell and grow, building or increasing the size
of their shell, until finally they are imprisoned.
!, Pieces ln Of granite containing these large
shells, with only small opening tbrou9h
which they have seemingly gone. are often
exhibited puzzles, the uninitiated Leing
unable to explain the seeming paradox.
The pholas bores by perhaps grinding with
secretion which it emts. Such, at last is 1.-THE the
theory. - 'Ne
In every hrarch OF the animal kingdom we
find these miners. Birds, fishes, insects, nam.
subterraneaa worhus