60 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



washed on to the sand by the tides, and the 

 natives gather them in baskets to make a 

 Palolo feast. About the same time, just as if 

 they knew, the land-crabs come down to the 

 shore, and there is a Palolo feast for them 

 also. The regularity of the swarm is very 

 interesting an inside change in the animal 

 keeping time with an outside change in the 

 seasons and it should be noticed that there 

 are in other parts of the world other kinds of 

 Palolo worms which " swarm " at a different 

 time of year. The association with the moon 

 is curious and so is the concentration to a short 

 time after midnight. The wriggling of the 

 headless bodies in the water is another very 

 interesting point. But we get furthest into 

 the heart of the queer story when we notice 

 that whereas many worms (and other animals, 

 like butterflies, lampreys, and eels) die in 

 giving rise to new lives, the Palolo-worms 

 evade this penalty. They surrender the 

 greater part of their body, but the heads 

 creep back into the coral reefs and begin 

 again. 



