318 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[August, 
IB©YS 4 OTILOTTOo 
Xlie Doctor’s Talks. 
This month we will change our “Talks” somewhat, 
and instead of the mechanical forces of nature, have 
something to say about a living object. I do not know 
how many have written me, first and last, about the curi¬ 
ous object generally known as 
THE HORSE-HAIR SNAKE, 
and the questions have not only come from youngsters, 
but from older persons. There is often to be found in 
shallow pools of water, and sometimes in horse troughs, 
a very long, slender object, curiously coiled and twisted 
upon itself, which has a very sluggish movement, but 
still enough to show that it is alive. The engraving, of 
the natural size, shows the so-called “ Snake ” to be a 
worm scarcely larger than a horse-hair, aud about a foot 
long; being of small size, and frequently appearing in 
horse-troughs, many have supposed that it came from a 
horse-hair. Many people really believe that the hair from 
a horse’s tail, after long soaking in water, can somehow 
“ turn into ” a snake. Indeed, I have known a person 
to keep a horse-hair in a bottle of water, expecting that 
it would 
TURN INTO A SNAKE. 
Many of the letters about it ask if the thing really 
comes from a hair, showing how widespread is this be¬ 
lief. Others simply ask what it is. Now this creature 
no more comes from a horse-hair than does a mud-turtle 
from a boot-jack. It is a creature by itself, small, it is 
true, but is as distinct as any other and much larger 
animal. Naturalists have not yet quite learned all about 
this Hair Snake, but so far as known, its history, rightly 
looked at, is quite as curious as if the creature really did 
come from a hair. The creature is not in any sense a 
snake, but is a worm. Its scientific name is Gordius 
aquatiem; the first name having reference to the “Gor¬ 
dian Knot,” the animal having a way of twisting itself 
up almost inextricably; its specific name, aquaticus , was 
given because it is always found in the water, there be¬ 
ing several other species which are not aquatic. These 
worms lay their eggs, which are hatched, and the young 
Gordiuses, in some manner, find their way into the 
bodies of Grasshoppers, Crickets, Locusts, and Water 
Beetles, being probably taken in with their food. Inside 
of these insects, like tape worms in large animals, they 
live and grow, and when they have reached their full 
THE HORSE-HAIR SNAKE. 
size, after having lived upon the food which these insects 
have taken for themselves, they at length leave the host 
that has entertained them so long, and are fortunate if 
they make their escape near water, where they can live 
for a while and lay their eggs for a new crop. A friend 
who gives much attention to the study of insects, informs 
me that he has often seen these “ Hair Snakes ” coming 
from the bodies of crickets, and can confirm the observa¬ 
tions of European naturalists. 
That one animal can live within the body of another 
may be new to you. Such animals are called Entozoa, a 
word from the Greek, meaning within an animal. There 
is a very large class of creatures that thus pass the whole 
or a part of their lives, it may be within the stomach and 
intestines of another animal, or it may be in some other 
part, the liver, the brain, and various other organs, afford¬ 
ing a home for these creatures. That an animal like the 
Hair Worm should live within the body of a Grasshopper 
or Cricket, is indeed very strange, but it is something 
more than strange, such knowledge is useful. 
OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS ARE TROUBLED 
by various creatures that live within them. The Hair 
Worm, it is said, does not injure the Grasshopper, though 
it would n®t be of much consequence if it did, but with 
our domestic animals, while some of the Entozoa cause 
little or no trouble, others, when in great numbers, make 
them ill, aud even kill them. You will find oil page 308 an 
account of the Fluke ; the creature that causes in sheep 
the fatal disease known as “Rot.” I think that all of 
you who are old enough to read about this Gordius , will 
understand that story ot the Fluke. This creature, the 
Fluke, is said to belong to a very low order of animals, as 
its “ make-up” is very simple. If it is simple in itself, it 
makes two different animals, two that are much higher 
in the scale, serve as its nurses. Early in the life of the 
Fluke, a little snail takes care of it, but it soon wants 
better food than the snail can furnish. The snail in 
search of food crawls upon the grass in a wet place; a 
sheep in search of food eats the grass, and without in¬ 
tending it, takes the snail also. The snail of course dies, 
but the little Fluke has found just the place it wanted—if 
such creatures have wants—and it goes on and causes all 
the trouble described in the article upon Sheep Rot. 
There are other Entozoa which have even more strange 
ways of living; and I may describe some of them another 
time, but what I wish to point out to you is this: 
SUCH STUDIES ARE USEFUL. 
Useful not only because they show some of the won¬ 
ders of animal life, and increase our knowledge, but have 
a real money usefulness. The naturalist who discovered 
that the young Fluke had the little snail for a nurse, 
added many hundreds of thousands of dollars to the wealth 
of farmers. He pointed out how the Fluke found its way 
into the sheep. No Snails, no Fluke, no wet pasture, 
no snails, aud the preventive of the disease, is to keep 
sheep away from wet pastures. What a trifle it seems, to 
look at it in one light., but how important if we look at its 
usefulness to every farmer who keeps sheep ! You may 
think I have wandered some distance, in going from 
Hair Worms to Flukes, but though they look so unlike, 
they are closely related; both are worms; both are Ento¬ 
zoa, or dwellers within other animals. I must tell you 
one more curious thing about the Gordius or Hair Worm. 
When the pool in which it happens to be dries up, 
THE WORM DOES NOT DIE, 
but, as we may say, goes to sleep, and waits until water 
comes agtyn. How long it can wait, I do not know, but 
an Italian naturalist put one away in a drawer, where it 
was forgotten for three years, and when at the end of that 
time it was placed in water, it became as lively as ever. 
My (Ti»e Doctor’s Correspondence) 
has not appeared for a few months, for the reason that 
most of the questions were answered in one way or an 
other in other parts of the paper. It often happens that 
a boy or a girl asks about something which is very much 
like what an older person has asked about. For example, 
here is “ J. H. N.” in Nebraska, who would like to know 
ABOUT CANARY, OR BIRD SEED, 
what kind of a plant it grows upon, and if he could raise 
it himself, as it is sometimes very difficult to get where 
he lives. Now this is just such a question as an older 
person might ask, and when I know that such an in¬ 
quiry has been answered in the other parts of the paper, 
I do not care to put another in your columns. But 
as to Canary seed, it is the seed of a grass which has a 
very close head, not long and slender like a head of Tim¬ 
othy, but short and egg-shaped. It is, like the birds 
which eat most of it, a native of the Canary Islands, but 
the supply for this country comes mostly from Southern 
Europe, and is grown more or less in Germany and Eng¬ 
land. There will be no difficulty in growing it, for the 
Canary-Grass makes itself quite at home in this country; 
where the litter from bird-cages is thrown out, the plants 
come up, and it is not at all rare to find them in waste 
places. You may sow it early in the spring, either broad¬ 
cast or in drills a foot apart; cut it when the seeds begin 
to ripen. It is a food that all cage-birds like—at least all 
the singing birds_But some questions are not so easily 
disposed of. Here is one who would like to know about 
THE MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SONG. 
That song or sound everyone of you must have noticed. 
What a wonderful sound it is: The chirps, the hums, the 
buzzes of a myriad of crickets, locusts, and I do not know 
what other insects, all blending to make that sound, al¬ 
ways to be heard on a warm summer’s night. It is a pe¬ 
culiar dull roar, serving as the base to the tenor chirp of 
of some near-by cricket, or the monotonous song of Mrs. 
Katy-did. But I did not set out to write about the sound, 
but I was thinking how much pleasanter it was to listen 
to it than it is to go in-doors to write. I am very sure 
that with cool evenings my budget of letters will increase 
in size. Sometimes the parents send questions to “ the 
Doctor,” and now and then I answer in the Boys’ and 
Girls’ Columns questions not especially intended for me. 
A FOSSIL TOOTH, 
came safely to our hands, and is not forgotten. I 
suppose it to be the tooth of some animal, the kind of 
which is no longer living, but though I have engravings 
of many such teeth, I find none quite like this. When I 
come across some geologist who studies such things, I 
will try to find out the name of the animal. 
Picture Puzzle. 
This is a qneer kiud of picture. The ox has some 
trouble with its head, as if some one was holding it back 
to keep him from eating the food in the pan that is for 
the dog. It may be that there is some one between the 
two animals, and is keeping them from quarrelling. Is 
it moonlight? It may be that the obsenre light of even¬ 
ing makes it more difficult to see the whole of the pic¬ 
ture. To many of our readers, and perhaps all, the 
“picture in the picture,” may be as plain as day. We 
hope for no trouble in finding what is to be seen. 
Our Puzzle«ltox. 
WORD-MAKING. 
(For explanation, see similar puzzle in the April number.) 
1. List of words : lion, double, rat, beast, elm, matter, 
to; letters to be added, R, D. (Find the word in the 
above list, to which the letters R, D, may be added, to 
form another word by transposition.) 
2. List: house, residence, future, tavern, local, tip; 
letters, O, H. 
3. List: actor, basket, bust, Miodel, gull, rim, pen ; 
letters. R, A. 
4. List: boat, steam, trotter, agate, little, course, miser; 
letters, Y, N. 
5. List: Traveller, forest., broom, dust, clean, billow; 
letters, C. I. 
CONCEALED QUOTATION. 
(The original sentence may be found in Shakspeare’s 
Troilus and Cresida.) 
How did I remember? Well, I keep a diary, and there 
it says—“ the thing was made with hard rope, and girdled 
with a band of Roman steel. In it he had Pysnmlkm’s 
ivory woman, elegantly carved, besides a miscellaneous 
assortment of rings, hooks, instruments of torture and. 
locks of human hair tied up with solferino ribbon.” 
DEFINITION PUZZLES. 
(In each of the following definitions yon can pick out 
the letters needed to spell the word that is defined. Ex¬ 
ample. —“ One devoted to any service.” Now for this 
you might think the word “servant” would answer, as 
you can find in the sentence the required letters; but 
"servant” is not so defined in the dictionary. The word 
is “ votary.” 
1. Odd and antique. 2. An instrument or vessel. 
3. One suddenly raised to wealth or power. 
4. Produce of vines, and the time of grape gathering. 
5. A word having the same, or very nearly the same 
meaning as another. 
6. Simple; an inhabitant of the country. 
7. Adorned; beautiful. 8. Destruction. 
CHARADE. 
My first is eaten, oft, with milk, 
’Tis deemed by many, good ; 
And in my next the children meet 
To take their daily food. 
My whole is deemed a luxury 
By many an epicure, 
And yet it is a common thing, 
You’ve seen it I am sure. 
SCATTERED SQUARE. 
(In the following verse, you will find in the first line 
the letters needed for the first word of the square, and, o[ 
course, the initials of the four words. In the second lino 
of the verse may be found the letters for the second word 
of the square; in the third line, the third word; and in 
the fourth, the fourth. In the first line, for instance, you 
may find letters with which to make the words—heat, 
reap, pear, pier, race, ache, etc. And it may not be quite 
so easy to select the right one as yon imagine.) 
The peaches are ripe, 
And rod on the trees; 
The flowers are perfumed 
And scented the breeze. 
