328 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



The Yaralla reached the harbor of Levuka, on the 

 island of Ovalu, the night before the great swarm of 

 Bololo was expected. Leaving the ship early next morn- 

 ing in a boat with a native crew, Agassiz and his as- 

 sistants had scarcely reached Bololo Point, some two or 

 three miles off, when the water became thick like ver- 

 micelli soup with this curious marine worm. The natives, 

 who had gathered for miles in anticipation of the event, 

 immediately put out in canoes, and men, women, and 

 children waded out on the reef with nets and all kinds 

 of utensils to catch the Bololo, which they consider a 

 great delicacy, eating them raw or cooked with bread- 

 fruit. After a time the swarms vanished as suddenly 

 and mysteriously as they appeared. 



This great swarm always occurs in the last quartering 

 of the moon in November, and is eagerly awaited by the 

 natives, who can tell by certain signs when to expect it. 

 Only recently had this curious phenomenon been called to 

 the attention of naturalists. It proves to be the marriage 

 swarm of a species of marine worm, living in the crevices 

 of the neighboring coral reef, who throw off their sex- 

 ual segments into the adjacent waters. After the dis- 

 charge of the sperm of the males and the ova of the 

 females, nothing is left but shrivelled transparent skins, 

 hence their sudden disappearance. 



TO SIR JOHN MURRAY 



On Board the Yaralla, 

 Suva, Dec. 3, 1897. 



Hurrah ! I have been and gone and done it, as we 

 say in Yankee slang. We have just come in from nearly 

 a month's trip round the islands of the Fijis, and a 

 more interesting trip I have never made. I have learned 



