Occurrence of <I>Chelura terebrans</I>, a crustacean destructive to the timber of submarine structures, on the coast of the United States

232 PEOCEEDINGS OF UXITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

136.Salpa CabotiDesor.

U.S.F. C.

—

Vineyard Sd.,Mass.,surface.

BRACHIOPODA.

137. Terebratiiliiia septentrioualis Gr.

U.S.F.

C—

^CascoBay, Maine.

13la. TerebratulinaseptentrioualisGr.

U.S.F.

C—

Easrport,Maine,1to60fath.

POLYZOA

or

BRYOZOA.

133. Crisia

ebumea

Lamouroux.

U.S.F.C.

—

Gloucester Harbor, Mass.

139. Tubulipora serpensFlem.

U.S.F.C.

—

VineyardSoimd, Mass.

140. Tubulipora Atlantica Smitt.

U.S.F.

C—

^BayofFuudy.

141. Alcyonidium

ramosum

Vcrrill.

U.S.F.

C— NewHaven, Conn.

142.Flustrellahispida Gray.

U.S.F. C.

—

Gloucester, Mass.,shore.

143. GemellarialoricataBusk.

U.S.F.C.

—

CascoBay, Maine.

143a. Gemellarialoricata Busk.

U.S.F.

C—

OirCapeCod, 20 to 40fath., 1879.

144. CellulariatemataJohnst.(var.) U.S.F.

C—

^GulfofMaine, 10 to 45fath.

145. CabereaEllisiiSmitt.

U.S.F.

C—

BayofFundy,1to20fath.

146.BugulaMurrayanaBusk.

U.S.F.

C—

NantucketShoals,8 to12fath.

147. BugulaturritaVerrill.

U.S.F.

C—

VineyardSd. andoft" Nan- tucketIsland.

148. MucronellanitidaVerrill. Dry.

U.S. F.

C—

VineyardSd.,Mass.

149.Membraniporapilosa Farre.

U.S.F.C.

—

Gloucester, Mass.

149a. Membraniporapilosa Farre.

U.S.F.C.

—

Gloucester, Mass.,onalgae.

150. EschariiialsabellianaD'Orb. Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

VineyardSound, Mass.

151. HippothoahyalinaSmitt. Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

VineyardSd.,Mass.

152.LepraliaAmericanaVerrill. Dry.

U.S.F.C.

—

Gloucester, Mass.,shore.

PORIPBRA (SPONGES).

153. MicrocionaproliferaVerrill. Dry.

U.S.F.C.

—

VineyardSd.andLongI,Sd.

154. ChaUnaoculataBowerb. Dry.

U.S.F.C.

—

VineyardSd.,Mass.

154a.ChaliiiaoculataBowerb. Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

Casco Bay, Maine.

155. SuberitescompactaVerrill. Dry.

'

U.S.F.

C—

^{Oft'Nantucket,}Mass.

156. SuberitescompactaVerrill.

U.S.F.

C—

^Oft'NantucketI.,Mass.

156a. Suberitescompacta^Verrill.

U.S.F.C.-Cape CodBay, 15fath.

156aa. SuberitescompactaVerrill.Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

CapeCodBay, 15fath.

157. Cliona sulphureaVerrill. Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

VineyardSd.,Mass.

158. Tethyagravata Hyatt.

U.S. F.

C—

Buzzard's Bay, Mass.

159.TethyagravataHyatt. Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

Buzzard's Bay, Mass.

160.RaphiodesmalinguaBow. Dry.

U.S.F.

C—

BayofFundy,10 toGOlath.

©eCJ-TKRKIVC'E

OF CMELrWA TEKEBBArVS, A CRU!§TACEA.^ DE- STRl-CfaVE TO TME

TI.^IBEK

OF

.SiSJBMAKBNE

STRUCTURES,

OIV

THE €OAST OF THE

U.'^'ttTEI)

STATES.

By SIDIVEY

I. SITIBTH.

Upon

tliecoast of

Europe

au

Amphipod

belouging-totlie genusGhc- liirahas long been

known,

associatedwith the Isopod Limnoria ligno- nim,or "gribble"ofEnglish writers,in destroying the timber ofall

kindsofsubmarinestructures. But,

upon

the coast oftheUnitedStates, theChclurahas apparently escapeddetection untilveryrecently,

and

I

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 233

am

not

aware

of any publishednotice ofits occurrence, althougliLim- norialias been

known

for

many

years,

and

its ravages

bave

often at- tracted attention. I

have

repeatedly

made

carefulsearchfor Cheluraat

many

differentpoints

upon

oureastern coast

from New

Jerseytoi^ova Scotia,

and

have

examined many

pieces of Teredo-

and

Limnoria-hored timberfromother parts of thecoast, but, until 1875,I

was

notable to discover

an

individual ofthe genus. In the

summer

ofthat year,while connected with the partyoftheUnitedStatesFish

Commission

at

Woods

Holl,]Massachusetts,

two

small specimens of Chelura

were

discovered, associatedwith Limnoria,inabitof

wood

scraped from oneofthepiles ofthe

government

wharf.

A

carefulsearch

was made upon

thepilesof several

wharves

in the neighborhood

and among

the

government

store ofspar buoys, but

no more

specimens could be discovered, although Limnoria

was

foundinabundance.

Figure 1. -Cheluraterebrans; male; lateralview,enlarged about twelvediameters.

Without European

specimens for comparison, these

two

individuals werescarcelysufficientto establish theidentityofour specieswith the

common

species of

Europe

;

and

Idelayedcalling attention totliesubject until

more

materialshould

be

discovered.

Xo

otherspecimens

came

to

hand

until

August

ofthepresentyear,

when

Professor

Verrill discovered the species in

abundance

in old

submerged

piles at Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Tiiespecimens found

by

ProfessorVerrillwereallin

wood submerged

from8 to 12 feetbelow thesurface at low water,

and were

associated with Limnoria lignorum

and

Teredonavalis.

The

Limnoria occurred onlysparingly, however,in thiscase,

though

it

was

found,

by

Mr. Sanderson Smith,ingreatabundance, with Teredo navalis,but without Chelura, in water- logged

wood

dredged the past

summer

in

Cape Cod Bay

in 7^fathoms.

The

si5ecimensobtained

by

Pro- fessor Verrill exhibitallthe variations

due

toage

and

sex,

and show

plainly that our s])ecies is identical withthe

European

Cheluraterebrans.

The

species

was

firstbroughtto notice

by

Philippi,

who

discovered itat Trieste, in

company

withTeredo

navalis, inplanksjusttakenfrom thesea,

and who

described

and

figured

JSTo.J31

Figure 2.

—

Limnoria Hijiioritm; dorsal view, enlarged ten diameters.

234 PEOCEEDIXGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL

MUS-EUM.

itin 1839. It

was more

fullydescribed

and

figured

by AUman,

in 1847, fromspecimeusfoundinthepilesofthe jetty intlieharborofKingstown, near Dublin,Ireland. Ithassincebeennoticed at various pointsonthe coast of

Europe

from Southern

Norway

to the Adriatic,

and

attention hasoftenbeencalled toitsravages.

Thereisai^parentlybutonesjieciesofthegenus

known. The

(7.pon- tica,described

by

Czerniavski,in18G8,judging from thefigures

and

the Latin partof the description,isnotdistinct.

The

figure

which

hegives ofoneoftheabdominal

swimming

legs(pleopods)

shows

onlyonemulti- articulate ramus,

which

is

an

evident inaccuracyin thedrawing,

and some

other slightdifi'erences

shown

inthe figures areapparently

due

to asimilarcause. Itis perhapswell tomention,inconnectionMiththis reference toCzerniavski'spaper, averyremarkable paper publishedthe

same

year

by Eugene

Hesse,in

which

thiswell-known

European

species is redescribed

and

extensively figured,from specimens taken on the coastofFrance,asa

new

speciesofLhnnoria!

The

geuus Chelurauu- questionablybelongs to theAmphipo<la,

and

has been placed in that order

and

nearCorojjMmn

hy

all carcinologists

who have

written

upon

thesubject. Ithas, in fact,

no

structural features

which

allyitto the Isopoda,asdistinguished fromthe

Amphipoda, aud

it has noexternal resemblancetoLimnoria,with

which

itneed not be confounded

by

the

most

superficialobserver.

The

Chehira is readilydistinguished from ^all the

known

generaof crustaceans

by

the structure ofthe three pairs ofcaudalstylets (uro- potls).

The

first(antepenultimate) pair of these

appendages

are slender

and

tippedwith

two

small

and

nearlyecpial rami; the second

have

the dorsaledgeofthebasal portion

expanded

intoathin,broad,oval plate projecting

beyond

the

two

small ramiAvhichareattachedin

an

emargina- tion ofthelower

margin

; thelastpair

have

verystoutbutshort bases, toeach of

which

is articulated a singlevery long

and

strong ramus, which,infully

grown

males,isnearly aslougas the

body

oftheanimal, but

much

shorter in females

and

young.

The

length of fully

grown

male,from the front ofthe

head

totheultimate pair ofcaudalstxiets, is aboutaquarter of

an

inch(G™'");that of thefemale

somewhat

less.

According

to notes,

made upon

the specimeus takenat

Wood's HoU

in 1875, the color of Chehira isverydifferent from that ofLimnoria, being semitranslucent, thickly spotted

and

mottled above with pink,

somewhat

as in UncioJa irrorata,but

wanting

the

opaque

whiteofthat species.

The

following

synonymy

gives the bibliographical history of the species

:

Cbelura terebransPhilippi.

Chchtru icrchraiis Philippi,ArcMvfiirNaturgescliicMc,v, 1839, p. 120,pi.T'.

lig.5;AuiialsNat.Hist.,iv,p. 94,pi. 3, fig. 5,1839.—Allman, Annals and MagazineNat.Hist.,xix, p. 361, pis.13, 14,1847 (see fnrthernndcrC.

destructor).—White,CatalogueBritishCrust., p. 56,1850;PopularHistory BritishCrust.,p.202,pi. 11, fig. 2,1857.—Gosse,Marine Zoology,i,p.

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 235

Cheluraterebrans—(Contiuued.

)

133,fig.250,1835.—Bate,Eeport BritisliAssoc.Adv.Sci.,1855, p. 59,pi.

13,fig.3 (autenna),pi.17, fig.10 (integument), 1856;Annals and Maga- zine Nat.Hist.,II,xix, p.150(18),.1857;CatalogueAmpliip. Crust.Brit- isliMuseum, p.285, pi.48, fig. 1,

1862—

Bate and Westwood, ^Britisli sessile-eyed Crust.,i,p.503 (woodcut),1863.—Heller,Beitriigezurniiliercn KenntnissderAmnhipodendesAdriatisc.lienMeeres(DeukschriftenMath.- Naturwissenscli. ClasseKaiseriicheAkad.Wissenschafteu,Wien,xxvi), pp.

52, 61, 1886.—Boeck, Crust.Ampliipodaborealiaet arctica (Christiania Videnskab.-Selskabs Forliandliugerfor 1870), p.173(253),1870; Skandi- naviskeogArktiskeAmphipoder,p. 647,1876.—Metzger, Jahresberickt derComm. ziirwissenscli.Untersuchungderdeutschen Meerefiir1872- 1873,Nordsee,p. 278, 1875.

Nemertes nemoides Leach,White,List Crust. British Museum, p. 90, 1847 {testeWhite, CatalogueBritishCrust., p. 56, 1850).

CheluradestructorAUmau, loc. cit., p. 363,1847 [provisionallyproposed in case theIrishspecimens provedistinctfromPhilippi's species].

LimnoriaxijlophagaHesse,AnnalesdesSci. nat.,Zoologie,Y,x, p. 101, pi.9, 1868.

Chelura ponticaCzexniaYski, Materialiaad zoographiam Ponticam comparatam, p. 95,pi. 7, figs.1-18, 1868.

New

Havex,Octoher16,1879.

DESCRIPTION OF Vi^W SPECSES OF NORTBI AISEBSHAN FISHES.

By DAVID

S.

J1>RDAM.

1.

BOLEOSOMA VEXILLARE,

Sp. IIOV.

AlliedtoBoleosomacffnlgens.

Body

rather short

and

stout; caudal peduncle not contracted;

head

moderate, the

muzzle somewhat

de- curved;eye moderate_;gill

membranes

scarcelyconnected; cheeks

and

breast

naked;

operclesscaly; a

naked

stripin front ofthedorsalfin;

opercularspinemoderately developed^;second dorsal very short

and

high, higher than long_; x)ectorals

and

ventralsnot reachingto anal.

Coloration olivaceous, the sideswithtraces of vertical bars,probably greenishinlife;

male

withthefirstdorsal, ventral,

and

analblack;sec-

ond

dorsal

and

caudal strongly barred with black

and

whiteinfine pattern;

head

black; female not seen,

but

probably without black.

Laterallinecomplete. Scalesverylarge, 4-35-6.

Head

4inlengthtobaseofcaudal; depth4|.

Finrays. Dorsal VIII-10; A. ^I.,7.

Length

oftype 2^inches.

Thisspeciesdiffersfromitsrelatives inthelarger scales

and

the

much

shorter

and

higher seconddorsal. (D.

IX-13

inB.effulgem.)

The

type

was

takenin the

Eappahannock

Eiver at

Warrentou.

Va.,

by

acorrespondentof"Forest

and

Stream,"

and

forwardedto

me

for identification

by

theeditor of that journal,Mr. Charles Hallock,