54 
The technical name Gordiacea is based upon the name of the type 
genus Gordius^ and this in turn is taken from the fact that the worms 
have a habit, when in water, of entangling themselves, several together, 
into an inextricable mass, thus recalling the '‘Gordian knot.” 
The popular name “horse-hair worm” is taken from the popular, 
though of course erroneous, idea that these worms develop from horse 
hairs. In reality, the larval stages are parasitic, chiefly in insgcts, 
while normally the adults are free living. 
It occasionally occurs that these worms are vomited by man or that 
they are passed in the stools. Authors are not agreed as to the method 
of infection. Some writers are of the opinion that the larval worm is 
swallowed and then develops further in man, while other writers hold 
that the adults are accidentally swallowed while a person is drinking 
at a fountain or brook. 
The following is a tabular statement of 15 cases which I have been 
able to find recorded, together with three new cases: 
