The lycoris is narrow and not very long, provided laterally with a great many little feet terminating in points and covered with hair, and having in front a pair of hard superior jaws, pointed horns, and the inferior jaws bent round in the form of hooks. Behind the head are four pairs of tubuliform gills. It is with these arms that this little animal pursues and devours the teredo.
One day M. Kater was fortunately able to observe the operations of the lycoris, One of these animals coming out of a hole in the wood which he inhabited, seized upon a teredo, which M. Kater had previously deposited at the bottom of the vessel containing the wood. He saw the annelide seize the teredo, hurry away with it to the hole which he occupied, and so completely devour it that he finally left only the two valves of the shell. Our illustrations of the teredo and lycoris are derived from the works of Mr. Paton and M. Forestier; and our own sketches.
If the lycoris would only destroy the teredo, when the mollusc was in its infancy, what an invaluable little annelide it would be!
It appears to us a great pity that the woods we have named, or some of them, are not brought over to England in large quantities for harbour works. In Ceylon and India, the trees are felled by Indian wood-cutters at little cost; they are then dragged to the river banks by elephants or buffaloes, to be floated down the rivers to the different ports, so that labour is cheap. The question then remains, how to get the woods to England? When the ‘Great Eastern ship has finished carrying cables, perhaps its owners will not object to send the ship on a few voyages with heavy cargoes to India, Demerara, &c., bringing home “teredo-proof woods,” at moderate charges for freight?
Finally, to place the subject in a practical form, we think the Institute of Civil Engineers, of London, would be heartily thanked by the engineering world if they would appoint a committee to inquire into the damages done to works by sea-worms; why they are found in some parts of a roadstead or harbour, and not in others; to consider the different remedies which have been proposed, their cost, and method of application; what course should be adopted to prevent sea-water injuriously affecting iron piles; and lastly, to publish a detailed account of their experiments and recommendations.
CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE DESTRUCTION OF WOODWORK IN HOT CLIMATES BY THE TERMITE OR WHITE ANT, WOOD-CUTTER, CARPENTER BEE, &c., AND THE MEANS OF PREVENTING THE SAME.
Of the ant proper, or that belonging to the order Hymenoptera, there are three species[24] in particular which attack timber, viz.: