264 THE BIOLOGY OF THE SEASONS 



in the swarming reaction." Now we begin to realise the 

 true inwardness of the phenomenon. At first we were 

 inclined to see, what is so obvious at many levels both 

 in plants and animals, that the beginning of new lives 

 means the waning of the old. But what we have is a 

 quaint suggestion of the little child Love holding the door 

 defiantly against the entrance of stalwart Death. 



For the whole point of the palolo-swarm is that it 

 illustrates an evasion of the death-penalty on reproduction. 

 The trend of things says, as it were, to the Eunice, in the 

 origin of a new generation the parent must sacrifice itself. 

 But the palolo has answered back, which is the prerogative 

 of life, transcending all materialisms has answered back 

 effectively, by the extraordinary adaptation of parting 

 with no small part of its body, and yet living on. In the 

 face of the trend of things, it hurls the defiance " Non 

 omnis moriar," and it still keeps true to its boast. And 

 this is Life an automatism that can rebel. 



The Pacific palolo swarms, as has been noted, upon or 

 near the day of the last quarter of the moon in October and 

 November ; the Atlantic palolo has its principal swarm 

 within three days of the day of the last quarter of the 

 29th June to 28th July moon, but the worm sometimes 

 responds to the first as well as to the last quarter of the 

 moon ; the Japanese palolo swarms in the Tokyo river at 

 the time of the new and the full moon. 



Dr. Mayer has tried to discover the nature of the 

 stimulus to which the Atlantic palolo responds when it 

 swarms. He put some rocks with worms in them in a 

 scow-shaped live-car, which was floated, half-full of water, 

 on the sea. Thus an artificial " tideless sea " was arranged, 

 and the interesting result was that four out of eleven worms 

 swarmed normally. 



" In nature all of the mature worms swarm at the 



