24 MR "W. BAIllD ON TUE HAIR-WOKM. 



Linnoous, iu his Systoma Naturae, places it in his class Vermes, order 

 Intestina ; and Miiller, 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 Eegne Animal, places 

 it among the Annolides, 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 generic relatione, 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 John- 

 stoni, for a figure of the Grordius, 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 genera. Miiller, 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 extremities 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 Airica it is found to be exceedingly troublesome, 

 insinuating itself under the skin, and producing 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 

 Gmnea-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 already shewn my reasons for behoving 

 his description of the Gordius to be mixed or confounded with that of 

 a Filaria, which may account for Mr Bird faUing into this mistake. 

 The fabulous account of this animal is perhaps the most interesting 

 part of its history. It is almost universally 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 the truth of 



