Rising Of The Palolo
p. 75 · Read in the full issue
Referring to the paragraph in the May issue of the “Crown Colonist,” Mr. R. A.
Lever, of North London, who has lived for some years in the South Seas, in formed the journal that the palolo, a sea-worm which lives on the ocean bed, rises to the surface twice a year, and not once, as was stated. “It has been known for some 80 years,” he wrote, “that there are two swarms of these marine worms, a small one in October, and the main rise early in November. The Fijians have special words for each swarm. In Sir Harry Luke’s interesting book ‘From a South Seas Diary,’ Ovalau Island is mentioned as ‘one of the few places in Fijian waters where this phenomenon occurs’; but, in fact, it takes place off the Yasawas, Vanua Levu and the Lau group, and probably elsewhere. It is also found in Samoa, New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands.”
Mr. D. A. Emberson died last month in Suva, Fiji, at the age of 58. His daughter, Mrs. E. Stewart, lives at Sigatoka.