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ne ae ie . the subject, _ resemble tiny clams. WAR ON THE SHIPWORM. Considering the millions of dollars' worth of damage annually done by the "shipworm," it is surprising that nothing very definite has been known about the animal up to now. It is not a.worm. at all, ofcourse, but a bivalve mollusc, which devours piles and all sorts of structures of wood in water. -It.first attracted serious at- tention in the eighteenth century, on account 'of. the injury it did to the dikes of Holland. Charles P. Sigerfoos, professor of biology, university of Minnesota, who has made a special investigation of raising shipworms in aquaria and otherwise studying them, reports to the United States fisheries bureau .that sometimes these worm- like "molluscs attain .a length of 4 ft. or even more, with a diameter of 'an inch "Such: a. "worm will iay as many as 100,000,000 eggs in a sea- son--a fact which is calculated to dis- courage any attempt to exterminate the animal. In the course of his studies Profes- sor Sigerfoos hung boxes and other wooden things in sea water, and soon found large numbers of infant ship- worms creeping over them. At this stage of their being they somewhat Later, they be- gin to burrow in the wood, using for the purpose. the © front their bivalve shells, on ones teeth develop. The eggs laid. by tie female are thrown into the water, and are al- most immediately harched, whereupon the young ones swim about for a while--that is to say, for perhaps a montn--during which they lead a life, the details of which are as yet un- known. At the end of that time they seek wood, wherever it may happen ' to be found, and proceed to burrow into it. Within two weeks after set- tling down they increase hundreds of times in size,.and in four. weeks they. are ready to breed. Thus. it will be seen that the. his-° tory of the shipworm is extremely simple. As it bores its way through a pile .or, other wooden object. it chews up the material, so to speak, -- and swallows it in fine particles. When, as so commonly happens, many millions of the creatures. attack a dock, or other structure under water, its destruction is a matter of only a comparatively short time. desirableness of finding a substance for use as a coating which ship- worms cannot eat.--Saturday Evening Post. edges. of . tirely repaired. also been recommended for the Rogers, 'including a recommendation for new -boilers. ; ; Hence the "THE Marine ReEvIEw ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. The Cherry Chemical Co., manufac- turer of Red Seal boiler compounds, advise us that they have removed from No. 10 North Nineteenth street to a larger. building at No. 1018 Call+whill street, Philadelphia. . The government is building a trans- ' port pier at Fort Mason, San Francis- co, contract having recently been awarded to the California Dredge Con- struction /Co. at San -Branciseo at $1,182,200. When completed the pier will have a capacity for docking five transports at one time. Senator Flint, of California, has been unsuccessful in his effort on behalf of his constituents 'of having either the whole or a part of the Atlantic battle- ship kept in Pacific waters. President Roosevelt told Mr. Flint that he did 'not feel that there was any reason for diverting the fleet from its course around the world. McLean, Kennedy & Co., Quebec, ad-_ vises us that the steamer. Malin Head which was sunk in collision by- the - Californian in St. Lawrence river was not raised by the London Salvage Asso- ciation as stated in the Marine ReE- view of Nov. 26, but was raised by Messrs. G. Davie & Sons, Quebec, un- der contract with the 'owners of the steamer. The operations were conducted under the control of George Davie. The Caledon Ship Building Co., Dun- dee, recently launched the twin-screw . yacht: Triad for' G. A... Schenley, of Southampton. The Triad is 264 ft. over all, 35 ft. beam and 19 ft. depth molded. She is rigge@ as a two masted fore and .-ait schooner having two funnels. Her machinery will consist of two sets of triple-expansion engines, 20, 32% and 52%4 in. cylinder diameters by stroke of 36 in. was The navy depattment has _ ordered surveys for general repairs to. the Tal- lahassee and Arkansas, which are to be thoroughly fitted out for service with -the naval academy squadron to which they are attached. The damage done to the Tallahassee by gunshot and tor- pedo tests last summer has been en- A general survey has The battleship Maine recently sailed from New York for Hampton Roads pvhere the fleet which is to take part in the inauguration of Pres- ident Gomez at Havana, on Jan. 23, is to rendezvous. It is understood that the Maine will be the flagship of this special squadron, which will 'likely include the battleships Idaho, Mississippi and New Hampshire, the armored cruisers Montana and North 33 Carolina, and the scout cruisers Ches- ter, Birmingham and Salem. This fleet, after participating in the cere- monies at Havana, is to meet the homecoming Atlantic battleship fleet and escort it to Hampton Roads. Permission has been granted by the secretary of war to the Northern Pa- cific railway to keep the draw of its Minnesota. street bridge at Superior closed for the remainder of the sea- son. The San was closed'on Nov..1. The. bureau of yards and docks, navy department, is asking for pro- posals for the construction of a con- crete and granite dry dock, 1,140 ft. long, 130 ft. wide and 35 ft. deep, at the naval station, Pearl Harbor, Ha- wail. The United States Naval Academy Alumni Association of the Middle © West held its banquet at the Congress | Hotel, Chicago, Nov. 23. The guests of honor were: Chief Instructor Capps, Admirals Brownson, Chadwick, Dayton, Ross and Higginson. Chief. Constructor Capps read letters from ~ Admiral Dewey, Admiral Schley, and Admiral Evans defending the battle- ships of American design, saying that they believed them to be equal to any. Officers were elected as follows: President, George A. Sanderson; vice president, Charles Deering; secretary and treasurer, W. J. Wilson. -- The Hamburg-American liner Amer- ika, on Her last trip to New York, -earried the largest quota of immi- grants leaving Europe on any one -ship in over a year, having had 1,984 passengers in her steerage. The next largest number for this year was carried by the Kaiserin Auguste Vic- | toria, of the same line, which arrived . in this country on Dec. 8 with 1,545 'steerage passengers. The Amerika, in addition to her record number of steerage passengers, also had the larg- est total passenger list for the year, carrying 270 in the first cabin, and 211 in the second cabin, a total, with the steerage, of. 2,465. ee The Board of Port Commissioners -- of the city of New Orleans has prac- -- tically. completed arrangements for the sale of the $3,500,000 bond issue for the extension and completion of. the public wharf system. Accordingly the board has authorized the construc- tion of steel sheds and 200-ft. wharves above and below Canal street for a total length, with the exception of one break, of. more than. seven ¢ity blocks. In addition to this there is . to be a new 2,000-ft. wharf covered | by a steel shed 200 ft. wide built at Washington avenue.