ox MUSCi;.LAR MOTION, QQi 



the inferior part of the right auricle, near to the entrance of 

 the vena cava inferior. The veins ufually called azygo?, 

 accumulate into two trunks, which open each into the branch 

 of the vena cava fuperior, on its own fide of the thorax. The 

 intercoftal arteries and veins in thefe animals are unufually 

 large. 



This tribe of quadrupeds have the habit of rolling up their Their habit and 

 bodies into the form of a ball during ordinary fleep, and they tha'i"a^ct>m"n 

 invariably affume the fame attitude vyhen in the torpid flate: the torpid ftate, 

 the limbs are all folded into the hollow made by the bending ^'^* 

 of the body ; the clavicles, or firti ribs, and the fternum, are 

 pretTed againft the fore pnrt of the neck, fo as to interrupt the 

 flow of blood which fupplies the head, and to comprefs the 

 trachea : the abdominal vifcera, and the hinder limbs are 

 puflied againft the diaphraj^m, fo as to interrupt its motions, 

 ^nd to impede the flow of blood through the large vefTels 

 which penetrate it, and the longitudinal extenfion of the cavit\^ 

 pf the thoracis entirely obftruded, Thus a confined circu- 

 lation of the blood is carried on through the heart, probably 

 adapted to the laft weak adions of life, and to its gradual 

 recommencement. 



This diminiihed refpiration is the firft ftep into the flate of The manner ia 



torpidity; a deep fleep accompanies it; refpiration then ceafes "^"'^h that ftate 

 11 I • I • III/, , . commences and 



altogether; the animal temperature is totally dettroyed, cold- is afterwards 



nefs and infenfibility take place, and finally the heart concludes ^'^'^"linated. 

 its motions, and the mufcles cea!e to be irritable. It is worthy 

 pf remaik that a confined air, and a confined refpiration, ever 

 precede thefe phenomena : the animal retires from the open 

 atmofphere, his mouth and noftrils are brought into contact 

 with his cheft, and enveloped in fur ; the limbs become rigid, 

 but the blood never coagulates during the dormant flate. On 

 being roufed, the animal yawns, the refpirations are fluttering, 

 the heart ads flowly and irregularly, he begins to flretch out 

 his limbs, and proceeds in queft of food. During this dor- 

 mancy, the animal may bfe frozen, without the deftru6lion 

 pf the mufcular irritability, and this always happens to the 

 garden fnail* , and to the chryfalides of many infers during 

 the winter of this climate. 



(The conclufwn in our next.) 



* li^lix nemoralis. 



Dtfcnpiion 



