GORDICEA. 



445 



as certain indications of their source, and not unfrequently 

 afford the only proof we can obtain of the true nature of 

 the hydatid." l 



Gordicea, Hair-worms, or Thames mud-worms, are at 

 once distinguishable by the extraordinary length of their 

 bodies, which frequently present a close resemblance to a 

 horse-hair; so close, indeed, that in former times the popular 



Fig. 217. Cystic Disease of Liver. (Human.) 



a, Cyst with an echinococcus enclosed, b, Detached booklets from the head of 

 Echinococcus, magnified 250 diameters, c, Crystals found in the cyst, choles- 

 terine. d, Cylindrical epithelium, some of which are enclosed in structureless 

 globules, e, puro-mucus, and fat corpuscles. 



belief ascribed their origin to the introduction of horse-hairs 

 into the water in which they are found. One of the 

 most singular circumstances connected with their history 

 is, that if by any chance, on breaking out of their insect- 

 home, they find that dry weather has produced a state of 

 things incompatible with their notions of comfort, they 

 quietly allow themselves to be dried up, when they become 

 perfectly hard and brittle ; but, strange to say, the moment 

 a shower of rain comes to refresh the earth with its 

 moisture, the dormant Gordii immediately recover their 

 activity, and start off in search of food. 



Angmllulce are very small eel-like worms, of which one 

 species, Anguillula flumatilis, is found in rain-water 

 amongst Confervce and Desmidiacece, in wet moss and 

 moist earth, and sometimes in the alimentary canal of the 



(1) Microscopical Society's Transactions. 



