124 OBSERVATIONS ON THE MARMOT. 



very. But the dog, on the instant he perceived the animal 

 loose, headed him at every turn ; and, at length, after a long 

 run, succeeded in catching tke end of the halter, and retain- 

 ing it in his mouth; holding it firm, while the superior strength 

 of the horse dragged him onward ; and then, pulling him in 

 his turn, endeavoured to arrest the fugitive's pace, during his 

 bounds and sudden freaks ; which effort of the dog's, so far 

 impeded the animal's flight, as, at last, to allow one of my 

 servants to seize him. A British bull-dog could not have 

 shown more determination, or strength of mouth, at the nose 

 of a bull, than was evinced by my slightly made Persian grey- 

 hound, Cooley (the spotted,) in his contest with this strong 

 and very highly mettled horse." — Vol. i. p. 444. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE MARMOT. 



[Translated from the Bibliothlque Universelle, by J. E. T.] 



u Having, in the winter of 1830, undertaken some experi- 

 ments on the hybernation of animals, I exposed four young 

 marmots to a temperature of from 10° to 12° R. below zero. 

 But this cold, which was perhaps too intense to determine 

 their numbness, put them into a state of trouble, which lasted 

 until I restored them to a temperature of 7° to 8° R*. My 

 marmots then fell asleep, with the exception of one, which 

 escaped secretly from the room where I was making my ob- 

 servations. I searched for it in every adjoining place, but in 

 vain; when, after the lapse of a fortnight, a servant, on 

 entering a deep cellar beneath my house, felt such a resist- 

 ance at the door, in trying to push it open, that she could not 

 succeed in forcing it back. She instantly came to me, ex- 

 pressing her fear that some ill-disposed person had secreted 

 himself in the cellar. I went to the spot with some friends 

 who chanced to be with me at the time ; but what was our 

 astonishment, on forcing open the door, at finding that the 

 marmot which I had imagined to have been lost, had pos- 

 sessed himself of this lodging ! The animal had found an 

 entrance by a small opening in the vault, and wishing to se- 

 cure for itself an impenetrable retreat, we noticed that it had 

 dug up the earth and scraped the wall, in order to heap up 

 the mould and plaster against the door, to about the height 



* Dr. Marshall Hall observes, in a valuable paper on Hybernation in 

 the last Part of the Philosophical Transactions, that " to induce true hy- 

 bernation, it i» quite necessary to avoid extreme cold ; otherwise we pro- 

 duce the benumbed and stiffened condition to which the term torpor or 



