THE COMMON HAIR-WORM. 53 1 



at other times its motions are the most slow and Ian. 

 guid imaginable. When the water in which it swims 

 happens to be dried up, it soon loses every appear- 

 ance of life ; the slender body shrivels, and it may be 

 kept in this state for a great length of time. But 

 whenever it is put into water its body soon re- 

 assumes its former appearance ; in less than half an 

 hour it begins to move, and in a few minutes more it 

 is as brisk and active as ever it was. The Abbe Fon- 

 tana kept a Hair-worm in a drawer for three years, at 

 the expiration of which it was perfectly dry and hard, 

 and exhibited no signs of life ; but, on putting it 

 into water, it very soon recovered its former vigour. 

 When kept in a vessel of water, it will sometimes 

 appear motionless, and as if dead, for several hours, 

 and afterward will resume its former vigour, and 

 seem as healthy as before. 



It is a very remarkable circumstance that its bite, 

 which it sometimes inflicts on being taken out of the 

 water, has been known to produce the complaint 

 called a whitlow. ^This is mentioned by Linnaeus as 

 a popular opinion in Sweden, and it has since his 

 time been confirmed by various other persons. 



This Gordius is sometimes found in the earth as 

 well as in water, and particularly in gardens of a 

 clayey soil, after rain*. 



* Shaw's Nat. Mis. iv. tab. 121.— Anderson's Recreations, ii. 255. 



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