PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
59 
the evening, to refer to a matter which thousands believe to be true, 
regarding the production of long, slender worms from horse-hairs. 
He did so from the fact that but recently an otherwise well-informed 
gentleman of this city not only asserted that horse-hairs, when placed 
in water, would undergo a peculiar transformation and become worms 
or snakes, but insisted that he had performed the miracle himself, 
and would do it again and bring them to him as an evidence of the 
truth of his theory. He has not yet done so ; but as the general 
diffusion of knowledge should be constantly presented through the 
medium of the newspapers and scientific journals, we give some data 
that Mr. Kinne mentioned, as an item of general interest : 
M. Villot, of France, some time since published a memoir, which 
entirely cleared up the life-history of these curious beings ; and when 
we state that one of our common species ( Gordius varius ) lays about 
600,000 eggs, it will be seen that there is no wonder we find them 
occasionally creeping through a faucet not supplied with a strainer of 
some sort. Strings of the ova are noticed in water in autumn, some- 
times 50 feet or more in length, and being swallowed by insects are 
encysted therein, in turn to be snapped up with their host by some 
little fish, or carnivorous beetle, where they are set free and encysted 
again in the intestines. A transformation after some months causes 
them to be able to reach the water again, where great changes take 
place, and when about two inches long they turn brown and begin 
to move. The Gordius aquations, our common hair-worm, grows to be 
about a foot in length, and is found in many animals. As it is a 
popular belief in certain parts of Europe that they live in man, and 
that they may be introduced into the system in drinking water from 
pools or brooks, or in eating fish not properly cooked, it behoves 
everyone to be on the safe side, order their fish well done, and strain 
their spring, valley, or other water before drinking. 
Dr. Mouser exhibited one of the most beautiful forms of Nostoe 
known, in which the beaded filaments are arranged in a spiral form, 
and were found floating on the surface of the outlet of Lake Merced. 
Mr. Langstroth exhibited a Serpula, brought down for the occasion 
from his marine aquarium. 
Mr. Hyde brought up a subject of great interest to all, by ex- 
hibiting a number of branches of lupin destroyed by the larva of 
some insect, which he had obtained from Mr. Pritchard, super- 
intendent of Golden Gate Park. The ravages of this insidious little 
foe are becoming apparent in a very alarming manner, some twenty 
acres of the lupin-covered sand-dunes of the park being destroyed. The 
blight was first noticed some six weeks ago, and rapidly spread from 
several well-defined patches. With the infected branches Mr. Hyde 
presented four vials, each containing forms of insect life thought to 
be obnoxious. 
The fly found most numerous on the healthy and diseased plants, 
and supposed by Mr. Pritchard to be intimately connected with the 
trouble, was at once counted out, as well as the second insect noted. 
The third, on a casual examination, bore some of the finger-marks of 
that pest of the agriculturist, the Ourculionidce, of which there are 
