American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-04-10
CANTON, MISS, SATURDAY, APRIL TO- 1873.

asitic worms, found in water and wet
places. which, to the unassisted eye, look
very much like snakes; and these are the
wriggling creatures supposed by many
persons to be transformed horse hairs.
Very few of our scientific naturalists
have made the study of the Gordius or
hair worm specially; hence, their true
life history may not be fully known;
but this much has been discovered, to-
wit: They live through the greater
part of their lives in the iptcstines
of insects, such as spiders, crIckets,
grasshoppcrs and various species of
beetles which live on the ground or
under stones in low, wet places. The
next question which would naturally fol
low is How do those worms get into the
insects? Let us suppose that one OF
these worms is living in the water or
under a stone where it is damp or wet
and there deposits her eggs, which are so
minute that it requires glass of high
magnitying power to detect them, al
though they are fastened together in a
long string of many thousands in each.
From these eggs minute tadpoles, like
worms, are Matched, and these lie in
wait for some luckicSs cricket, beetle or
other insect of proper size to supply
comfortable home for the worm in which
it may thrive and grow to full size.
When such comes within reach the little
tadpole makes the most of the oppor-
tunity and penetrates the body, where
it thrives on the contents of its habita-
ton. When the worm is fully grown 1t
again escapes to the water the first
chance; and anyone who has sufficient
interest in this subject to catch few of
the large black crickcts in the fall and
throw them into water will be pretty
sure to find an occasional specimen con-
tanning one or more of these hair worms.
The worms will leave the cricket almost
Instantly upon touching the water, show
ing that they are waiting for just such
opportunities to escape to their APP
parently natural element. The worms
may be kept in fair condition
for examination and study in alcohol, al
though they will become quite brittle if
the spirits are of high proof. ] have OBJ
tanned specimens of the Gordfus from
various species of the cricket family, but
the most interesting specimens in my
collection are from a species of large Tex
an beetles known as Gasinadchus. In col
lecting the beetles they were thrown into
alcohol, and the worm thinking if worms
do think it was water started to leave its
home, but only succeeded in withdrawing
about four inches of it's entire length
whatever it may be- before the spirits
killed it. In another specimen OF the
same species of beetle there appears to
have been two of these hair worms, both
having made an unsuccessful attempt to
leave at the same time, but King Alcohol
stopped their progress beyond Il certain
point just as he does some other Great
ures of a higher order.
Hair worms, or horse-hair snakes, are
not transformed horse or cow hairs, no
matter how many persons there may be
to testify that they have with their
own eyes, witnessed the transformation.
\ pair of ordinary eyes, backed by
good quality of brains, don't amount to
much in these days of superior compound
micros copes, either monocular or binocu-
lar-Rufdl Nel1 YORKER.