146 Dr.W. C. Wlutosh 071 the 



of the whole. The natives of the Fiji group much esteem 

 a form allied to the British Lysidice ninetta as an article 

 of diet, and they predict its annual appearance in their 

 seas with unemng precision by observing the phases of the 

 moon, as at Samoa. It is called '' Palolo " by the Samoans 

 and Tongese, and " Mbalolo," Dr. Denis Macdonald informs 

 us *,_by the Fijians. This annelid occurs in numbers so vast 

 that it is collected by the natives as a dainty and nutritious 

 food J and it is so much prized that formal presents of it are 

 often sent considerable distances from certain chiefs to others, 

 whose small dominions do not happen to be visited by the 

 Palolo. Dr. Macdonald thinks the tendency to transverse 

 fission exhibited by the annelids (since they are seldom got 

 entire) may be connected with the diffusion of the ova, and 

 not with the development of new forms — a conclusion the more 

 likely though by no means necessary. He states that the 

 species had been supposed to exhibit an alliance with Areni- 

 cola.j but that the anatomical characters refer it to the Nereid^e. 

 As already mentioned, it ought rather to be classed with the 

 Eunicidai. If the Palolo has similar habits to the Lysidice 

 of our southern coasts (that is, dwells in fissures and crevices 

 of the rocks at and near low water), it probably leaves its 

 retreats for the purpose of depositing ova. Lastly, EcMurus 

 is used as bait by the Belgian fishermen ; and a Sipuncidus is 

 employed as food by the Chinese, whose varied taste ranges 

 from trepangs to edible birds' nests. 



If the uses of the majority of the annelids are restricted in 

 the case of man, a very different condition holds with regard 

 to marine animals. An examination of the stomachs of our 

 most valuable fishes shows how acceptable and important 

 a part they play in the supply of nutriment. The large 

 number of species Avhich a few hours' fishing on a rich coast 

 will produce Avith bait of Nereis cultrifera is strongly corro- 

 borative ; indeed I should be inclined to place them even 

 before crabs and mollusks in respect of the avidity with which 

 fishes devour them. The majority of the annelids of St. 

 Andrews are found in the stomachs of cod, haddock, whiting, 

 flounders, and other common fishes ; and it is often puzzling 

 to explain how those which dwell in tubes under stones, in 

 fissures of rocks, and in other remote places have been ob- 

 tained. To give a satisfactoiy account of the food furnished 

 by this class to fishes would re(paire an enumeration of every 

 family, and most of the genera and species, found in this 

 country ; indeed, I do not know a single form that would be 

 rejected. It will suffice, on the present occasion, to notice a 

 * Liun. Trans, vol. xxii. \^. 2^,7 (ISoO;. 



