POTENTIALITIES. 331 



feast, the natives assemble in numbers the night previous!}', at the localities among the reefs where 

 Palolo is obtained most abundantly. At dawn of day — the proverb of the early bird and the 

 worm must have originated in Polynesia — the worms make their appearance in countless myriads, 

 sport on the surface of the water for two or three hours, and then mysteriously disappear. 

 On the second morning they appear in even greater quantities than on the first one, and are 

 ladled into the canoes with the hands, nets, baskets, bowls, or other available utensils. They 

 are eaten, both raw and tied up in bread-fruit leaves and baked ; while large quantities are 

 sent inland by way of barter, or as presents to those who are unable to take part in the fishery." 



The author is by no means beyond hope that Palolo may become a standard Queensland 

 dish. Soon after daybreak on one of the reefs at Thursday Island, the author witnessed, 

 in October, 1889, an assemblage of nereids on the surface of the water which, though of 

 somewhat smaller size, resembled in form, and manifested all the peculiar movements of, the 

 Palolo. In like manner, they also within a few hours entirely disappeared from view. By 

 a close examination of the worms disporting on the surface of the water, and also, when 

 isolated in suitable receptacles, and with the aid of the microscope, the author succeeded in 

 discovering the raison d'etre of their early revels. It was, in fact, the nereids' public wedding 

 morning, and these their wedding junkettings. Each worm was laden with ova or milt, 

 which were discharged in little thin milky streams, one from each side of the body, as they 

 swam through the water. The reproductive elements, commingling under these conditions, 

 effected fertilisation after the manner of the spawn of certain fishes, such as say the Gadidae 

 or cod tribe. It may thus be assumed that the periodical appearance of the Polynesian 

 Palolo on the surface of the water is similar!}' associated with the animal's propagation. 

 Concerning the Thursday Island variety, it is a subject well worthy of further investigation from 

 both a scientific and a gastronomic view. Presuming a happy combination of the two, we may 

 look forward, in the not very distant future, to a nineteenth or twentieth century revival of the 

 " Diet of Worms " at the proposed Thursday Island Zoological Station, which shall be annually 

 discussed by the Ministry of North Queensland, or at more remote intervals by the Federal 

 Council, with all the dignity and decorum of a Greenwich whitebait dinner. 



A potentiahty which undoubtedly exists, but which has hitherto lain entirely fallow, through- 

 out the length and breadth of the Great Barrier area, is associated with the collection and cultiva- 

 tion of commercial sponges. Sponges of excellent quality have been obtained by the author at 

 innumerable points, from the Capricorn Islands group to Torres Strait, and could no doubt be 

 profitably collected throughout the greater portion of the intervening areas. A sample collection 

 brought to England and compared with the extensive series of named types contained in the 

 British (Natural History) Museum, has been found to contain no less than six varieties, to all 

 external appearance indistinguishable in quality and texture from the most valuable market species. 



These include three fine toilet-sponges, Eiispongia officinalis, var. mollissinta and var. punctata as 



T T 2 



