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description of the county of Humberg, mentions the Host- Worm as a 
peculiar kind of forest worm, which the " Oherforster Hans Christian 
Ludwig of Ilmenau had observed in his forests ; he also states that it was 
of the breadth of three fingers, plaited like ladies' hair and said to occupy 
entire mountains attaining sometimes a length of 15-20 fathoms (90-120 
feet.)" 
This phenomenon had already attracted the attention of men of science, 
when Professor Dr. Norwicke of Krakau observed the Host-Worm in the 
Karpathians near the village of Kopaling. He bred the midge from its 
larva and demonstrated the insect to belong to a species until then 
undescribed ; which with its black dress and the yellow line on each side of 
the female's body was similar to the " Thomas Trauermucke," yet differed 
from this insect by quite characteristic features and also by its smaller size ; 
this new insect he named " Sciaria militaris." These and simultaneous 
observations in the Hartz justify the conclusion that all Host- Worms are 
only formed by the larvae of Sciaria militaris. 
A single grub of the Host- Worm is not quite half an inch long, it is 
almost white in colour, glistening, and so transparent that the dark 
brown contents of the intestine which extends nearly the whole length of 
its body are plainly visible. The wonderful processions happen in the 
following manner : the little slender grubs being footless crawl with their 
shining black heads beside, above, and behind one another, exactly in the 
same direction, and held together by a peculiar stickiness form a rope-like 
or snake-like body, sometimes 30 feet long and mostly composed of 
thousands of individuals. This train is usually broadest in front, 
narrowing gradually until no thicker than pack thread, and formed only 
of single larvae. The compactness of the train and the incessant 
movement of all the closely allied larvae towards the same goal make it 
appear as a single individual, while the brownish grey colouring produced 
by the shining black heads and t\e contents of the intestines remind 
one to some extent of the Viper. 
The author of a short article on the Host-Worm having received a box 
containing thousands of these larvae packed among beech leaves, thus 
minutely describes the proceedings of the little creatures : " We took two 
large moistened sheets of paste-board and emptied the contents of the 
box upon one of the boards, keeping the other in readiness for the 
procession. The little creatures informed us at once why in their 
processions or marches thop kept so snugly and cosily together and do not 
allow themselves to be diverted from their seeming goose-step. We shook 
