24 MR W. DAIRD ON THE HAIR-WORM. 



Linnaeus, in his Sy sterna Naturae, places it in his class Vermes, order 

 Intestina ; and Muller, in his Vermium Historia, also places it in the 

 class Vermes, and order Helminthica, corresponding to Linnaeus' Intes- 

 tina. Cuvier, however, in his last edition of his Regne Animal, places 

 it among the Annelides, animals, it must be observed, possessing red 

 blood, and a double circulation of arteries and veins. If its situation in 

 the general system be thus indistinct, it is no less unfortunate in its ge- 

 neric relations, having apparently been frequently, perhaps generally, 

 confounded with the genus Filaria. Linnaeus, in his Fauna Suecica, 

 amongst several old authors, which I have not been able to lay my hands 

 upon, quotes the curious work, Historia Naturalis Johnstoni, for a figure 

 of the Gordius, which by Johnston is called the meer wurm. Upon 

 examining this curious work, however, the figure there given is not a 

 correct resemblance of our Gordius, but evidently a Filaria ; and from 

 this figure being cited by Linnaeus as a figure of the Gordius, it appears 

 probable, that that great naturalist had himself confounded the two ge- 

 nera. Muller, again, in his description of this worm, which he calls 

 Gordius Seta, mentions " that a variety is found with one extremity 

 bifid, or divided into a fork with obtuse legs." In his description of the 

 species in general, he says, the extremities are of the same colour as the 

 rest of the body, and that one extremity is somewhat sharpened. Now 

 it is evident from this, that his description of the species is of that of a 

 Filaria ; and that his variety, with a bifid extremity, is in reality the 

 true Gordius : for in all the specimens which I have examined yet, and 

 from different parts of Berwickshire, the tail is universally bifid, the ex- 

 tremities are of a darker colour than the rest of the body, and neither 

 extremity is sharpened more than the other. Smellie, in his Philosophy 

 of Natural History, in speaking of the Gordius or Hair-worm, says, that 

 in this country it is harmless ; but that in India and Africa it is found to 

 be exceedingly troublesome, insinuating itself under the skin, and pro- 

 ducing dangerous consequences. This is the animal commonly known 

 by the name of the Guinea-worm, which is a species of Filaria, and 

 Smellie evidently confounds the two genera together. In a paper by a 

 Mr Bird, in the first volume of the Transactions of the Medical and 

 Physical Society of Calcutta, the Guinea-worm is attempted by him to 

 be proved a species of Gordius, most probably, he says, the Gordius 

 argillaceus. This is one of Midler's species, I believe, and I have al- 

 ready shewn my reasons for believing his description of the Gordius to 

 be mixed or confounded with that of a Filaria, which may account for 

 Mr Bird falling into this mistake. The fabulous account of tins animal 

 is perhaps the most interesting part of its history. It is almost univer- 

 sally believed in this country, by the lower orders especially, as produced 

 by horse hairs being dropped into the water ; and it is not unusual to 

 meet with people, who, with all the confidence of honest Gerard, in his 

 account of the Barnacle Goose, declare that they themselves have proved 



