THE SCHOOL OF THE SHORE 59 



THE STORY OF PALOLO 



Every autumn, on the shore at Samoa, near 

 where Robert Louis Stevenson used to live, 

 there is what is called a swarm of Palolo. 

 Now Palolo is a green worm, whose proper 

 name is Eunice viridis, and its home is in the 

 crevices of the coral-reefs. In the fall of the 

 year the body of the worm becomes full of 

 germ-cells, egg-cells in the female which 

 develop into young worms, and sperm-cells in 

 the male which fertilise the eggs. This is of 

 course the usual story with animals. Now in 

 October or November, at the third quarter of 

 the moon, for a short time after midnight, the 

 Palolo worms become very restless. They 

 back out of the holes among the corals and 

 writhe in the water. The whole of the body 

 breaks off a little way behind the head, and 

 the headless bodies are so numerous in the 

 water that it looks like vermicelli soup. The 

 headless bodies burst, liberating the germ-cells ; 

 some of the egg-cells are fertilised by some of 

 the sperm-cells, and a new generation begins. 

 The heads creep into the crevices of the coral- 

 reef and begin life afresh, growing a new body. 

 Thousands of the headless, wriggling bodies are 



