The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-06-07
SOLVED SOUTH
SEA MYSTERY
Late Or, WOCdEOrth Made a
Study. Of the PaloIO Worm.
PUZZLE TO The BIOLOGISTS.

Why the Creature Appeared at 3!45
a. m. on Certain Day In Early No.
Vember or Late In October of Each
Year According to the Moon.
DR.. William McMichael Woodwork
of the Museum of Comparative Zoolo-
gy at Harvard, who died recently, was
the discoverer of the solution of
mystery which had puzzled biologists
for half century. This was the iden-
dfication of that mysterious worm Of
the Pacific ocean which makes its ap-
pearance Oh clockwork schedule once
year. exactly at 3:45 in the morning
OF a certain day in early November or
late in October, according to the quar-
tcring of the moon.
This remarkable animal is found on
certain few reefs of a few of the
south sea islands. 1t occurs in parts
OF Samoa, in Tonga, in Fiji aad in
some OF the New Hebrides and bears
the name palolo in the several island
tongues. Its recurrence each year is
a matter OF no little interest to the
islanders, for it is esteemed as a deli
cacy, being used raw, Just as it comes
dripping from the salt water or cooked
by steaming in the pit ovens. Either
way it has the flavor Of highly salted
spinach and is quite satisfactory to the
European palate.
Differs From Other Animals.
1t differs from all known animals by
reason of its strict observance of a
calendar all its own, yet one which the
islanders have learned to compute for
themselves. The hour of its appear
ance is the moment of slack water ebb
at the third quarter of the moon which
comes nearest the first of November
Five minutes before the appointed
time the reef pools are empty, the
sweep Of the fine nets used in the fish
cry yield nothing but a water haul.
All at once the water becomes alive
with writhing mass of worms, each
of the diameter of a pack thread and
five or six inches long. The fishers
raise one shout of wild glee when the
palolo appear, but that is the only
shout, for afterward all mouths are
crammed with the dainty morsels as
fast as the nets can scoop them up.
In the earliest days of the London
mission I'm Samoa the Rev. John b.
Stair secured specimens of palolo and
sent them preserved in alcohol to John
Edward Gray Of the British museum.
By him their position in the scale of
the lower life was determined. errone-
ously It has since been proved. He
gave the specimens the scientific name
Of Palolo viridis. For fifty years the
strange periodicity Of the palolo was
a perpetual challenge to students. it
was the despair of zoology.
He Solved the Mystery.
In 1898 DR.. Woodwork determined
TO solve the mystery, went to Samoa
for the purpose and established himself
In a Samoan community nearest the
reef where the palolO crop was great
est, at Falelatai, on the south shore !
Of the island of Upolu. In the earlier |
experience which he had had in Fiji |
he previous year, in the consent of the |
experience Of all other students who |
lad essayed the problem, he recognized |
hat the mere observation of the rising |
IF the worms in the reef pools at the |
gray Of dawn offered no solution. He |
prepared for the event by establishing |
4 rude laboratory in which he could |
subject the reef itself to close examina-
ion, This consisted of a series of
,anks on the shore in which he deposit
ID Jumps of coral cut from the outer
-eef and kept them under a steady flow
IF water drawn from the lagoon. He
the necessary control by |
other coral blocks to niaces |