WOODWORTH I THE PALOLO WORM. 9 



ysis of internal organs to make room, as it were, for the accumulation 

 of sexual products, and the reduction in the number of chactae in the 

 parapodia, processes adapted to its function and brief existence ; while 

 the life of the atokal, parent-end is, as far as known, perennial. The 

 general shape of the parapodia in the atokal and epitokal regions is the 

 same ; those of the anterior region being perhaps somewhat broader, and 

 containing a larger bundle of chsetae, both simple and compound. In 

 the epitokal region I found usually, even as far back as the thirteenth 

 preanal segment, two of the simple, dorsal chsetae and three of the 

 ventral compound ones (Fig. 13), while Ehlers says, "ist h&ufig nur 

 eine einfache und eine zusammengesetzte, Borste vorhanden." A reduc- 

 tion of organs and histolysis of tissues in epitokal forms of annedids 

 has been noted by Ehlers (1868) in Glycera, Caullery and Mesnil (1898) 

 in Dodecaria, by Claparede (1870) in Polyopthalmus and Psedophylax, 

 Eisig (1887) in Notomastus, etc., and Mcintosh (1885) has spoken of 

 it in the "Palolo." The intestine is reduced to a thin flattened ribbon, 

 and the segmental organs are difficult to determine, more especially so 

 in the female. Also there is a great reduction in the thickness of the 

 body wall, a condition that exists in other annelids at sexual maturity. 



All sexual products, according to Powell (1883), are discharged 

 through " oviducts and seminal ducts," and Ehlers believes, with Powell, 

 that the sexual products are discharged by means of "ausfuhrende 

 Apparate." My observations do not agree with this. In Fiji I isolated 

 single individuals in separate vessels and observed the discharge of the 

 sexual products, which was best seen in females on account of the large 

 size and deep color of the ova. In one instance, a female of about 

 ten inches in length, the ova were discharged as if simultaneously from 

 all segments, leaving a small mass of shriveled translucent pellicle. It 

 seemed incredible, that so large a worm could be suddenly reduced to so 

 small a mass. The process was like an explosion, and the ova must 

 have been under great tension. When a few specimens were kept 

 in the same vessel, the number of heaps of green granules at the bottom 

 of the vessel indicated the number of females that had discharged their 

 ova. On examination of the collapsed integument, distinct lateral rents 

 or tears could be seen, and could, in some cases, be traced confluent 

 through several segments. The large size of the ova, 14.5 /x in diam- 

 eter, would preclude any rapid discharge by means of segmental 

 organs. On the other hand I believe that some of the male elements 

 may find their way out through the segmental organs as they can be 

 demonstrated there in sections,* yet living males "explode " in the same 



