THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PALOLO 



ONE of the most striking illustrations of the rhythmic 

 swing of life is to be found in the story of the " Palolo " 

 worms, which, briefly told, is somewhat as follows. Among 

 the crevices of the coral rocks around Samoa and Fiji and 

 some other Pacific islands, there is a very common greenish 

 sea-worm,scientificallynamed > wmc^ym^'s, popularly Palolo. 

 In October and November every year, on or near the day 

 of the last quarter of the moon, there is an extraordinary 

 breeding swarm, and the waters are green with worms. 

 The swarming sets in just before sunrise, and often lasts for 

 less than half an hour. The numbers are past all con- 

 ception. The water is so thick with worms, Professor Hickson 

 says, that one cannot see down below two or three inches. 

 Professor Alexander Agassiz compared the sight to a great 

 area of thick vermicelli soup. It is a red-letter day for the 

 natives, who collect the delicate creatures in vessels and have 

 a great feast, as their forbears seem to have done for many 

 generations. It is said to be a red-letter day for the land- 

 crabs also, who arrange at that time to visit the worm- 

 strewn beach. What does it all mean ? 



To understand it, we may begin near home by noticing 

 that in some of our British shore-worms, such as the re- 

 splendent Nereis virens, a remarkable change occurs in the 

 body at the breeding season. So striking is the transforma- 

 tion in some instances, that the breeding (" epitokous ") 

 phase has been mistaken for a distinct species. In some 



forms the change affects only a part of the body, the posterior 



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