Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-04-02
The Hair Worm, or HOrse-Hair Snake.

A lady friend who resides on Russian
Hill has sent us lively specimen of that
| singular species of animated nature
! commonly known as "the hair worm,"
or "horse-hair snake" 1t came into the
possession of our friend from the faucet
in her-Adwelling, connected with the
Spring Valley water works. She init.
mates that it is just a little dangerous
to indulge in aqueous potations from the
faucet in the dark. We should think il
was. In answer to her inquiries as to
its origin, and how it came all the way
through the pipes, we append the fol-
lowing:
Most of our readers are doubtless
familiar with the form and appearance
of this singular worm or snake, and
many of us, when boys, and some of us
when full-grown men and women, were
fully impressed with the belief that
hair from horses tail, when left in
pond or other still, warm water, would
turn into one Of these singular creatures.
1t has been a popular belief that if in
cautiously handled it will bite the ends
of the fingers and occasion that peculiar
sore or gathering called whitlow. But
the microscope shows that it has neither
jaws nor other instruments by which it
can either bite or sting. Indeed, it has
not even mouth-but obtains its sus-
tenance by the absorption of fluids
through membrane over that part of
| its body where the mouth should be.
Joseph Leidy, well-known Philadel.
| phia professor, once tried series of ex-
haustiye experiments to prove that this
popular notion of its origin could not be
true. The microscope and scientific in
vestigation, however, have more fully
proven that this, like every other living
creature, springs from an egg in the
first place
Science informs us that this is not an
insect but belongs to that class of para
site worms which live and thrive for a
certain length of time in the intestines
or substances of some other body, like
the tape-worm in the human system and
the trichinm in the hog. The name of
the geaus 70 which this worm belongs is
GOrdjus, and there are quite number of
different species. The most common
species of this genus, and that to which
the one now before us belongs, live in the
bodies of grasshOppers, crickets and va
rious other insects; but when nearly ma
ture and full grown they bore their way
out of their insect home and take to the
water or moist earth, where after a few
days they lay their eggs, which are al
most innumerable. They are laid in
long strings, which look like very fine,
white sewing cotton. One of these
worms was seen by Prof. Leidy, while he
was experimenting, to lay string ninety
inches I0fgl These eggs are exceedingly
small--so small that upward of 200 of
them have been counted in one forty
fifth of an inch as thus laid in string
This would give something like six mill
ions of eggs as the product of the single
worm observed by Prof. Leidy.
The eggs, exposed to the warm summer
sun, hatch in about one month and lib
crate worms which have very little or no
resemblance To their parents. The pro-
fessor, during the investigation, succeed
ed in Matching several eggs. They pro
duced small, tadpole-shaped creatures
with a spine and two circles of sharp
hooks-six in circle-which could be
pushedin and down out from the head.
This forms kind of boring apparatus
by which the tadpole can penetrate the
bodies Of auch insects as may approach
them. The professor placed some of the
larv@ of May flies in the vessel in which
the eggs were hatehed and soon the
young tadpole G0rdu were seen 10 bore
their way into the Larvae. They were
also seen to penetrate the delicate mem
brane at the joints of the legs of crickets
and grasshoppers which were confined
and placed in The vessel. They were
carefully watched and II was found that
they gradually assembled among the mus
eles and other organs Of the bodies,