80 A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SFA.S 



residents appreciate them fully as much as do the natives, 

 and there is no more graceful gift at such times than a 

 basket of Palolo Worms, which are eaten either cooked 

 or raw. Epicures, however, consider that they are spoiled 

 by cooking. 



It is interesting to bear in mind that several other marine 

 animals produce ova which are at their best at certain 

 stages of moons. In Egypt a certain sea urchin produces 

 its much-esteemed ova when the moon is at the full. 

 The scallop is believed to behave similarly, whilst the native 

 oyster tends to spate in greater numbers during the week 

 following a full or new moon. 



One of the commonest of all tubular worms is the 

 Keeled Tube Worm {Vomatoceros triqueter), known at a 

 glance by its white chalky tube having a marked ridge or 

 keel on the upper portion. The worm often forms 

 huge tangled masses which almost obliterate the form of 

 the object to which it is attached, the said object being 

 a weed frond, stone, shell or even a living crab or lobster. 

 The worm protrudes a pair of scarlet gill plumes that on 

 the least alarm are suddenly withdrawn and the opening 

 of the tube closed with a hard shelly door or stopper. 

 The Keeled Worm, one of the commonest of our native 

 species, incubates its eggs in a special incubating chamber 

 beneath the shelly lid and here they remain until the young 

 larvae force an exit through the wall of their nursery. 



Many marine worms are luminescent and none more so 

 than the Parchment Tube Worms (Chaetopterus variopedatus) 

 the defunct tubes of which are often cast ashore after a 

 gale. These tubes are khaki colour and of tough parch- 

 ment-like texture nearly two feet long by an inch or more 



