Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-12-23
BOYHOODTRADITIONS
HOW SCIENCE HAS RuTHLEsSlY
PLAYED HOB WITH THEM.

Even the Horsehair snahe Is Declared by
the Naturalist TO 30 . Humba9-stin
Clinging 60 That Relief and Presenting
Pretty Good Argument.
Science plays hob with the fond tradi-
tions of rural schoolboy days. How
many ugly but useful toads have been
left In undisturbed possession Of gar
den bed because to handle them was
but TO cover your hands with warts and
TO kill them would force your cows TO
let down bloody milk? What boy would
have crushed cricket, assured as he
was that its mate would come at night
and avenge it's death by eating mp that
rash boys clothes? What man lives to-
day who, as rustic lad. has not held
the stilted daddy-long-legs prisoner by
one hairlike shank and informed the
globular insect that unless ID forthwith
pointed ont the way in which the
lost cows had gone instant death
awaited II, and when did daddy-long-
legs fail to raise one slender leg and in
dicate, according to boyish belief, the
direction the straying kline had gomez
And the DEVILS darning needle, that big
eyed thing that lived and prowled for
nothing else than TO sew your ears up.
and the magic eel skin tied round your
leg, or neck. or arm. to keep the cramps
away when you went In swimming, and
the snake that swallowed its young. and
greatest Of ali. that vivified hair from a
horses tail, wriggling and gyrating in
the roadside mud puddle. the horsehair
snake.
But science has stepped In and solemn
ly and seriously said that these are all
myths. II is u shattering Of idols. but
fear that TO science must be granted all
II denies about them. except as TO snakes
swallowing their young. have been an
open mouthed and wide eyed witness of
that interesting trick too often to let
even profound scientists stand up and
declare that IL isn't 30.
hold out little, too, for the horse
hair snake, for have in my mind a GER
tain vagrant horsehair that once put in
an oyster keg filled with rainwater, and
either that horsehair in the course of O
| iCW W ttAo tbOh OAi ttiO rCtiAbtnakot VI AAk3
and form Of horsehair snake and kept
1t mp all season In bottle to which l
transferred II. or else 1t disappeared, and
the germ Of what we supposed was q
horsehair snake happened 10 be In the
water and developed there. have al
ways insisted that I made horsehair
snake. have heard many veracious
persons declare that they have done the
same thing:
But you ars all wrong" says Mich.
olas Pike. the naturalist. THE horsehair
snake. or hairworm. Is the Gordius
aquaticus, and 1t Is common in most
fresh water ponds and rivulets. Though
no larger around than coarse cotton
thread. they have two mouths. one on
each side Of the head. They lay score:
and sometimes thousands OF eggs. The
eggs are deposited in strings, like q
chain. on the sides Of shallow ponds OF
creeks. and they are greedily swallowed
by various aquatic insects. Then from
the time the egg is Matched the FIRST part
of the worms nutriment Is spent a.
parasite, absorbing nutriment from TIN
body of its unlucky host. The larg
water beetles are subject to these para
sites. They have been found in a crick
ct They are graceful swimmers, bu
when taken from the water they twis
themselves into such an intricate kno
that 1t is almost impossible TO unloos'
It. They are called Gordius from this
tho Gordian knot.
81 have no doubt that one reason VIII,
the idea Of the horsehair snake has beei
propagated Is from ignorant person
who have had various insects In clea
water watching them for study or cur
osity. Knowing that they put in onl
certain live creatures. and some da
finding these live worms, they were Al
! tonished. The chances are that tn
worms were developed from pet beetl
that in its native pond made feast o
some ova OF the Gordins, TO be pai
} dearly for later when these Matched"
But there was no pet beetle OF an
other insect In my keg of rainwatei
The horaehair went away, and the snak
or worm appeared. | don't believe th
horsehair ever swallowed any Gordiu
ova | can't imagine any reason why
0 horsehair should turn into snake q
J worm when kept In tho water. but VIII
] not a horses hair as well as cows ha
or q deer's hairi Science had better nj
D tell any OF the few old settlers Of nortl
D ern Pennsylvania or any other localit
where the pioneers were frequently the
! own tanners that cows hair and deer
hair will not turn into worms under cc
tain conditions or science will get
!. black eye. In the pioneer days, when
settler wanted leather for boots OF shoe
J Il was not an uncommon thing for hi
7 to make vat by following out q PHI
. log, and using wood ashes instead of lin
! In removing the hair. When the hi
!, was taken out Of the vat 1t would
placed In a creek to soak out the alkall
have more than once heard the sol
Of such pioneers tell Of finding curio'
2 worms swimming about these hid
: where they were lying In quiet pool
These worms were about two inch
y long, somewhat thicker than q COW
;, hair. and always In various stages Of
velopment from the hair as II came {
:, tho hide. some being for part Of ths
length simply hair, while the rest W
the living worm. white and semitrar
parent. Some would be still fast 10 q
!. hide. but wiggling TO get loose. VIII
they would swim about with hair fol
tail. These worms were never seen Z
cept in the pools with the hides. eth
COW or deer. The more think OF The
well authenticated cow hair worms