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A genus of long, slender, nematoid worms, parasitic in insects until near maturity, when they leave the insect, and live in water, in which they deposit their eggs; -- called also hair eel, hairworm, and hair snake, from the absurd, but common and widely diffused, notion that they are metamorphosed horsehairs.…

A genus of marine annelids, believed to be an ancient or ancestral type. It is remarkable for its simplicity of structure and want of parapodia. It is the type of the order Archiannelida, or Gymnotoma. See Loeven's larva.

A division of nematoid worms, including the hairworms or hair eels (Gordius and Mermis). See Gordius, and Illustration in Appendix.

Pertaining to Gordius, king of Phrygia, or to a knot tied by him; hence, intricate; complicated; inextricable. Gordian knot, an intricate knot tied by Gordius in the thong which connected the pole of the chariot with the yoke. An oracle having declared that he who should untie it should be master of Asia, Alexander the…

A nematoid worm of the genus Gordius, resembling a hair. See Gordius.

llectively; a fabric or tuft made of such hairs. Horsehair worm (Zoöl.), the hair worm or gordius.

The peculiar larva of Polygordius. See Polygordius.