TH E 



A, M E R I C A\ N 



logisU^J^*^^^^^ 



VOL. 2. 



ST. LOUIS, MO., MAY, 1870. 



NO. 7. 



Entomological department. 



CHARLES V. RILET, Editor, 

 221 N. Main St., SI. Louis, Mo. 



THE GORDIUS. OR HAIR-WORM. 



PROt'ESSOR JOSEPH LEIDY, PUlLADELFHr 

 [Fig 11' 



Tliougli by no means common, most persons, 

 at least tliose living- in the country, are more or 

 less familiar with the curious animal known 

 under the various names of Hair-worm, Hair- 

 snake, aud Horse-hair worm. Usually a single 

 specimen is observed at a time, sometimes in a rain 

 puddle in a hollow or wagon-rut by the wayside, 

 or in a driukiug-trough at a village inn, attract- 

 ing attention by its active aud incessant wrig- 

 gling movements, bonding from side to side and 

 curving in all directions, and giving rise to the 

 impression that it is writhing with pain. Its 

 resemblance in form aud color to a horse hair, 

 coupled with the position in which it is ordi- 

 narily noticed, has given rise to the world-wide 

 popular belief that the creature is actually a 

 transformed horse-hair — one that by maceration 

 has become endowed with independent life, and 

 the inherent power of movement. I once saw, 

 in an old English periodical, an attempt at an 

 explanation of the manner in which horse-hairs, 

 in the proce-s of decomposition, gave rise to 

 movemeut, which induced me to try the experi- 

 ment of making hair-worms. I need hardly 

 say that I looked at my horse-hairs for many 

 mouths without having had the opportunity of 

 seeing their vivificatiou. 



The Hair-worm is, however, a distinct animal, 

 having no further relationship with a horse-hair 

 than in its general likeness, which is by no means 

 an exact one. When sought for in the proper 

 places, as is tlie case with many other animals, 

 the Hair-worm is much less rare than is generally 

 supposed. In the latter part of summer or the 

 I beginning of autumn, in the search for the aui- 

 I raal, I have frequently found it, while saunter- 

 ing along the banks of a river or creek, in little 

 hollows close to the shore. It requires some 

 practice to discover it, as usually it is compara- 

 tively quiet in such situations, and may readily 

 be confounded with the blackened, decomposing 

 vegetable fibres occupying similar places. Some- 

 times it is found single, and at others a number 

 are discovered coiled together in a loose, but in- 

 tricate-looking knotted mass. Such knots, which 

 had passed through the water pipes and issued 

 at hydrants in our city, I have seen on two 

 occasions. Similar knots, no doubt, were the 

 source of the scientific name of the worm, that 

 of Gordius, applied to it by LiiuuBUs, from the 

 fabled Gordian-knot of antiquity. The Gordius, 

 however, not only resembles the latter in the 

 intricate condition into which it sometimes gels, 

 but its history is yet in part a Gordian-knot to 

 be unraveled. 

 The worm is perhaps the hardest or most re- 

 I sistant to the feel of any of its Order, and it is 

 tough and elastic. It is very tenacious of life, 

 and when cut into several pieces will continue 

 to live and move for some time afterwards. 



Linnffius accepted a popular error in regard 



to the Gordius. In his System of Nature he 



i says that, " if the worm is incautiously handled 



it will inflict a bite at the ends of the fingers, 



and occasion the complaint called a whitlow." 



It is sufllcient to refute such a fancy when it is 



j learned that the animal has neither jaws nor 



I other instruments by which it could either bite 



or sting. 

 j A number of species of the genus have been 

 j noticed in diflerent parts of the world. Several 

 European species have been described, and we 

 have as many in this country which appear to 

 be quite distinct from the former. The more 



