4 
1995] Tue HAIrR-EEL. 136 
The usual colour of Gordius is black or dark brown, some are 
of a pale shade; but my specimen is of a very deep brownish black 
colour for the posterior 44% inches of its length, while for about 
Yeths of its length, from the head, it is yellowish or olivaceous- 
brown. The attenuated head end is very pale in colour. The 
hind portion of the body is thicker than the anterior part. J 
notice that Grenacher describes a reverse coloration in specimens 
from the Philippine Islands, the head end being dark, while the 
hind portion of the body is a lighter shade of blackish-brown. 
Mermis acuminata, Leidy, a species of the genus Mermide, allied 
to the Gordiide, is of a pale brown colour. 
From what has been said, it is clear that the Hair-eels are 
widely distributed on this continent and in Europe, while Gren- 
acher’s studies were largely based on specimens brought by Carl 
Semper from the Philippines. 
The zoological position and the details of their anatomy and 
structure have been matters abeut which high authorities have 
seriously disagreed. Grenacher refers at some length to the con- 
tradictory views held. As he states, ome author describes a 
mouth-opening, others deny its existence ; one states that the 
digestive canal is obsolete in the adult, another gives a detailed 
account of its various parts ; one found a pair of secreting organs, 
others regard them as alimentary pores. The great Carl Gegen- 
baur speaks of an enteron or alimentary tube in the entoparasitic 
larva of Gordius, but declares that it so degenerates that the 
mouth disappears, the ingestion of food ceases, and the adult 
relies upon the store of food taken in during its earlier life as a 
parasite. In my specimen a mouth is certainly present, though 
there can be no ground for the statement of Captain Thomas 
Brown that ‘‘its bite, sometimes, inflicted on being taken out of 
the water, has been known to produce the complaint called whit- 
low.” The further statement that Linnzeus recorded it as a po- 
pular opinion in Sweden, and that the fact has since been confirm- 
ed by various other persons, may be passed over. The mouth of 
Gordius is too small and feeble to inflict a bite: it is a simple 
minute pore. 
