MR W. l-Aflll) MX TIIK IIAIR-WORltf. 25 



the truth of this belief, by actual experiment : that they have thrown 

 horse hairs into the water, and actually seen them come forth living 

 (ion Hi. No later than last week, an intelligent farmer assured me with 

 much gravity and sincerity, that he had actually seen horse-hairs placed 

 in the water and become living worms ; but when pressed upon the 

 subject, his belief arose from his having seen those hairs when taken out 

 of the water, and placed upon the palm of his hand, curl up like worms. 

 When the learned herbal isfi Gerard, can confidently state, that he has 

 seen the Barnacle Goose spring forth full fledged, and in all his plumy 

 glory, out of the diminutive barnacle shell, we need not so much wonder 

 at the confident simplicity of our less learned rustics, with regard to an 

 animal which possesses certainly very much the appearance of a horse 

 hair. Linnasus, in his Systema Naturae, mentions this opinion also, 

 so that it appears it is not confined to this country alone. It is reported 

 also of the Gordius, that if handled without sufficient caution, it will in- 

 flict a wound at the end of the fingers, and produce whitlow. Linnaeus, 

 in his Fauna Suecica, says, that the rustics of Smolandia believe that 

 the bite of this worm causes the whitlow, and that they call the whitlow 

 in their language Onda Betet, and that they give the same name to the 

 worm itself. But though they believe thus much, he says, they are ig- 

 norant whether it enters the body like the Guinea-worm. He farther 

 states that these rustics have a method of curing the whitlow, produced 

 by the bite of this worm, by making an incision with a knife, with 

 which they had previously divided the animal into minute segments. 



The serpent-like appearance of the worm, with the natural credulity 

 and love of magnifying the dangers of an animal, the nature of which 

 they are not acquainted with, will sufficiently explain these fables. 



Linnaeus further mentions, as the opinion of these rustics of Smolandia, 

 that if this worm be cut into pieces, each separate portion will, polype- 

 like, become a perfect animal. On Saturday the 29th of June, I cut 

 one of these animals into six pieces, and left them in the saucer, in which 

 the worm had previously been lying, for twenty days. On Wednesday, 

 July 3, the intermediate portions between the tail and the head were 

 found to be dead, having lived up to that day, but no appearance of the 

 slightest reproduction was observable. The two extremities on the 4th 

 were still alive, and shewed considerable powers of life, but not the 

 slightest symptom of reproduction was observable in either of them. 



When full grown, the Gordius appears to be about 10 inches in length : 

 it is round and filiform, considerably resembling a horse hair or hog's 

 bristle in diameter and general appearance ; the body is of equal 

 size and diameter throughout its whole length, and has its two extremi- 

 ties darker than the rest of the body, which is generally of a brown co- 

 lour. In all the specimens which I have examined the tail is bifid, 

 being divided into a fork, with very short obtuse legs. The skin is 

 marked with numerous fine transverse rings, which require the aid of 



