6 



BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



"Palolo" was made independently by Kramer and Friedlaender, 

 although the latter was the first to publish an account of his investiga- 

 tions. Friedlaender succeeded in obtaining from the reef-rock at Sama- 

 tau several specimens of " Palolo," together with the head ends of an 

 annelid of different appearance and much larger size belonging to the 

 genus Eunice. Friedlaender was the pioneer, for he was the first to iden- 

 tify the large head-end as that of a 

 Eunice, and was the first to figure it 

 as well as the transition piece be- 

 tween it and the " Palolo," and it 

 was from his material that Ehlers 

 gave us the final name Eunice viri- 

 dis (Gray). All that I can hope to 

 do is to establish, beyond doubt, the 

 origin of the " Palolo," and confirm 

 the researches of Friedlaender and 

 Kramer, and add something to our 

 knowledge of the morphology, habits, 

 and relationships of this once mys- 

 terious worm. 



It was Ehlers (1898) who first 

 gave a detailed description of the 

 Palolo worm and recognized an ex- 

 treme case of sexual dimorphism, and 

 showed the " Palolo " to be the epi- 

 tokal posterior portion of Eunice 

 viridis (Gray). He says (1898), 

 " Ich erganze das im Voraus damit, 

 dass ich die Eunice, die nun den 

 Namen Eunice viridis (Gray) erhalt, 

 in den Kreis der Eunice siciliensis Gr. 

 bringe und an ihr die Ausbildung 

 des " Palolo " als eine Form der Epitokie auffasse, wie sie zum ersten 

 Male aus der Familie der Euniciden, und in ihrer Besonderheit abwei- 

 chend von alien Erscheinungen der Epitokie, die von Borstenwtirmem 

 bekannt sind, sich darstellt. Demnach ist in der Art eine atoke und 

 epitoke Form, in der letzteren eine atoke und epitoke Korperstrecke zu 

 unterscheiden." We have then in the Palolo, combined in the same in- 

 dividual, an atokal and an epitokal part corresponding to the anterior and 

 posterior ends of the animal (Text Fig, 1), and it is the posterior epitokal 



Figure 1. 



Eunice viridis (Gray). The narrower pos- 

 terior, epitokal part, when detached 

 and free-swimming, is known as the 

 "Palolo." About natural size. 



