diff --git a/src/pkg/net/http/request.go b/src/pkg/net/http/request.go
index b9d6289793..0b6e6cbab5 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/http/request.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/http/request.go
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ type Request struct {
 	// The host on which the URL is sought.
 	// Per RFC 2616, this is either the value of the Host: header
 	// or the host name given in the URL itself.
+	// It may be of the form "host:port".
 	Host string
 
 	// Form contains the parsed form data, including both the URL
diff --git a/src/pkg/net/http/request_test.go b/src/pkg/net/http/request_test.go
index c0b738c6e6..2f34d12412 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/http/request_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/http/request_test.go
@@ -228,6 +228,16 @@ func TestReadRequestErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestNewRequestHost(t *testing.T) {
+	req, err := NewRequest("GET", "http://localhost:1234/", nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if req.Host != "localhost:1234" {
+		t.Errorf("Host = %q; want localhost:1234", req.Host)
+	}
+}
+
 func testMissingFile(t *testing.T, req *Request) {
 	f, fh, err := req.FormFile("missing")
 	if f != nil {
diff --git a/src/pkg/net/url/url.go b/src/pkg/net/url/url.go
index d1fff89da7..692a7fdc04 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/url/url.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/url/url.go
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ type URL struct {
 	Scheme   string
 	Opaque   string    // encoded opaque data
 	User     *Userinfo // username and password information
-	Host     string
+	Host     string    // host or host:port
 	Path     string
 	RawQuery string // encoded query values, without '?'
 	Fragment string // fragment for references, without '#'