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Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Series 8 Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnah14 XX.—The ( lignorum, Rathke) attacking a submarine cable in New Zealand Chas. Chilton M.A. D.Sc. F.L.S. a a Canterburgy College , New Zelaand Published online: 11 Sep 2009.

To cite this article: Chas. Chilton M.A. D.Sc. F.L.S. (1916) XX.—The gribble (, Rathke) attacking a submarine cable in New Zealand , Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Series 8, 18:104, 208-208, DOI: 10.1080/00222931608693837 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222931608693837

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XX.--The Gribble (Limnorla llgnorum, Rathke) attacking a Subm~rine Cable in. New Zealand. By CItAS. CttlLTON, M.A., D.Se., F.L.S., Professor of Biology, Canterbury College, New Zealand. Ix 1904 (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. set. 8, vo]. xiii. p. 380) I recorded the presence in New Zealand of the gribble (Limnoria lignorum , Rathke), which had been found attacking sub- merged timbers in Auckland, Lyt~elton, and Akaroa harbours. The has also been found at Cape Town in South Africa, at Sydney in Australia, and at the Falkland Islands, and has probably been unintentionally introduced in most parts of the world. In March 1916 Mr. Harold Hamilton, of the Dominion ~iuseum, Wellington, forwarded to me a piece of the gutta- percha covering the inner core of the Cook Strait cable which had been burrowed into by some marine , together with three specimens of the . I found another slill in the hole bored by it. On examining these, I found ~hat they belonged to the species mentioned above, being distinguished fi'om die indigenous New Zealand species L. segnis, Chilton, by the shape of the exopod of the maxilli- peds and by the possession of a fairly well developed three- jointed palp to the mandibles. On further inquiry, I ascer- tained from Mr. Shrimpton, of the Telegraph Department, that the piece of cable examined came from a spot where a failure had occurred off Sinclair Head in Cook Strait at a depth of about 60 fathoms. The perforations that caused the sea-water to reach the inner core of the cable existed at a spot where a splice had been made. At other parts the armouring-wire of the cable prevents the animal from pene- /rating to the inner core. This inner core was covered with a thin sheet of gutta-percha, and it was through this that the

Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 12:06 19 April 2015 gribble was bin rowing. While it is not astonishing that the gribble should be abundant in s~bmerged timbers in harbours al| over the world, having doublless been introduced by old wooden ships, i~ is~ perhap-', worthy of record that they have become so abundant that they attack the submarine cable at a depth of about 60 fathoms a1~d :,t a distance of 13"75 nau!ieal miles from the entrance to Mrellington Harbom" and of 4"75 ,mutical miles from the nearcst land, Sinclair ttead. It, must be remembered also that in Lirm~oria l,~qnorum, as in mostlsopod% the eggs are carried in theincubatory pouch under the body of the female until the young are hatched almost in the adult form, and that the animal is small and fi'om its structure would not be expected to have much power of locomotion.